Never Too Late
by Hetalia1643
Summary: Antarctica has a lot on her shoulders and sometimes it's too much. While everyone sees her as perfect, she's dealing with the choice of whether she should live or not.
1. Chapter 1: Demons

It started on a peaceful morning, or so it had seemed. Everything was quiet in the serene atmosphere of that Monday morning until, CRASH! BANG! "ANNABELLE ELIZABETH KIRKLAND GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND WAKE UP!"

Antarctica's eyes snapped open as she let out a shriek and tumbled off her bed and hit the hard stiff wooden floor that had been about three feet from the ground. Since she had such a beautiful sense of grace in the morning as well, her head banged into the side table and her foot made a CRACK sound as it connected with her bed frame. With all the pain radiating through her body adding to the equation of that adrenaline rush caused by the yell. She sat up and clutched her throbbing foot biting back curses. "What the-"

That was when Ann looked up and saw the familiar figure looming over her. She swallowed hard and gave a weak smile. "H-hey England…" she mumbled meekly.

The blonde Brit glowered down at her menacingly as his emerald green eyes burned into her skull. "Do you know what time it is?!" Arthur roared his hands clenching into tight fists pressing into his thighs.

"Um…" she glanced at her digital clock and saw the time, 7:09 blazing brightly. Her eyes widened, "OH CRAP!"

"Oh crap indeed!" he snapped grabbing her arm and yanking her to her feet, "School starts in 21 minutes and you aren't even dressed!" She yelped and pulled away from him rubbing her arm, sure he was scrawny but he had a tight grip.

"Sorry! I guess my alarm didn't go off-"

"Oh save me the excuses!" he hissed backing away and crossing his arms in front of his chest, his eyebrows furrowing in anger, "I don't care if Jack the Ripper himself was keeping you from waking up! Actually now that I think about it I wouldn't care if you were wearing earmuffs through the alarm and couldn't hear it! I told you what would happen if you're late to school one more time! Education should be more important than getting an extra hour to lie in that bed of yours wasting away precious minutes Antarctica!" Annabelle brushed her pale-blonde curls out of her eyes.

"Please just give me a break would ya?! I'll make it on time I promise!" she said as she dug out her uniform from her already atrociously organized closet. Luckily, England didn't see the horrid mess but only the plain and generic outfit. It consisted of a white formal long sleeved shirt, a blue sweater, a blue and purple plaid skirt, and a tie that matched the skirt. Most of the girls at Hetalia World Academy usually wore knee-socks and black dress shoes but instead Ann wore her knee-high black combat boots.

England gave her one last icy glare before straightening the tie on his own uniform and walking back into the hall. "You better."

Antarctica stared after his fleeting silhouette as he marched down the stairs and sighed with relief closing the door, for once there was somewhat peace and quiet. She slipped off the long sleeved shirt she had been wearing for sleepwear that night and started getting dressed as fast as she could manage.

Living in Kirkland Mansion was definitely hard sometimes on the poor girl, but she secretly loved it here. Waking up to her big brother screaming at her was not how most people enjoyed their mornings yes, but she had grown use to the Englishman's temper tantrums. No one else knew this, but she actually looked up to him and practically adored her oldest brother, but he could be a pain sometimes.

In the mansion, everything had to perfect according to Arthur Kirkland, otherwise known as the personified version of the country England. Most of the time he was more motherly to her than anything else, critiquing her and always seeming to be on her heels to correct her or scold her on a misbehavior.

Not that Ann didn't appreciate him, no that wasn't what she felt at all. He just had a habit of being right when she was wrong. And the one thing Annabelle hated the most in the entire world was being wrong. She actually despised it with a burning passion, and it was ten times worse when Arthur was the one proving he was correct and she had made a mistake. She always felt like she had disappointed him or simply didn't meet his high expectations.

Call it pride, vanity, conceit, stubbornness, haughtiness, arrogance, ignorance, or any of the words inbetween, because none of it matters for her anymore.

She called it simply being a teenager.

Not only is all of that difficult at times, but being a country itself especially challenging work for her. All of the countries of the world are personified into a human, for example herself. Any decision she could make could affect her land by economics, politics, wars, etc. One time there was a full out civil war between scientist and it left her aching for days on end. It got annoying, especially since there was a whole lot of responsibility and high goals that were supposed to be met. When you're sixteen physically, but over 800 years old in human years (since she was a continent technically speaking she aged much slower than the countries), you'd rather be hanging out with your friends than doing paperwork or sick in bed because of economical struggle.

As Antarctica finished tying up her knee-high combat boots, she started brushing through her thick curls wincing as she got stuck in tangled clumps. "Stupid bed-head," she mumbled biting her lip so none of her colorful words escaped her mouth.

Finally after managing to tame her hair at least half-way she did a quick swipe of make-up and checked the time, 7:18.

"Okay," she thought shoving her laptop in her bag, "I'm making good time." She quickly hefted her bag on her shoulder and headed downstairs. The aroma of bacon and eggs smacked her in the face invading her nostrils as she came down. "Well then," Ann muttered, "I guess England's not cooking then…"

Actually when Arthur announced that he would be cooking, she either ran for cover or made sure the fire extinguisher was ready for immediate use. Most people had at least one big flaw; the Brit's was definitely cooking. She went into the kitchen and saw a hunched over figure at the stove. She smiled, "Hey America."

The dirty-blonde American looked up at her and grinned giving a small but vigorous wave with his free hand.

"Hey dude! You hungry?" he asked lifting the frying pan and displaying his creation, "I made an Egg McMuffin!"

Annabelle chuckled and got a plate out for herself. "Trying to make McDonald's at home so England can't complain?" Alfred gave her a sly wink.

"You betcha!" he flipped it once in the pan and paused before flinging it towards her, "THINK FAST!" She immediately lifted it her plate and laughed in triumph as it fell with a thud on the plastic.

"That all you got?" Antarctica twirled it on her finger but also making sure her breakfast didn't fly off she watched it carefully, "ENGLAND, could do better."

After the insult sunk in, America's blue eyes flashed behind his glasses. "Oh you did not just say that."

She smirked. "Oh yes. I. DID!" Ann and Alfred, the personification of America, were always like this. While she and Arthur fought about half of the time, she treated her second oldest brother like a best friend.

America honestly wasn't the brightest bulb around, but he always knew how to make her smile no matter what. He was a little daft and didn't have that much knowledge on anything that didn't deal with fast food, his country, or video games. She was always looking up to him for advice on personal matters, but that was only if she felt safe to share was she was feeling at the time.

With his outgoing personality and "I'm the Hero!" attitude, he always tried to help her, even if she absolutely did not want it. Not to mention with that super-human strength of his, he could make things interesting from time to time, and cleaning under the dressers easier but that didn't go well for either of them.

Alfred looked like he was about to make a retort but then Arthur strode into the kitchen.

England's unruly blonde hair was somewhat neat now, even though it still stuck up like he had just gotten out of bed and his abnormally large eyebrows stood out against the pale blonde locks. The men's uniform consisted of purple plaid pants that went with a tie, and a purple sweater. But since he was so short, it looked a little odd on him when America easily beat him by over a head of height difference.

Then again, Antarctica was shorter than him still. Even in her combat boots, this had the slightest heel in them giving her an extra inch.

"Alfred can you at least try to take one meal seriously?" the Brit snapped his eyes narrowed at his younger brother as he stirred his tea, "We have a certain and specific time we need to get to school you know." The American rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on Mr. Eyebrows don't be such a grouch! We have like," he paused and pulled out his smartphone, "…6 minutes." England sighed looking up at the digital clock that hung right over Alfred's head and glanced at what was cooking.

"Still eating those disgusting globs of grease?" Arthur said dryly. Alfred lifted his head so he could see what he was doing.

"Still drinking that dirt based beverage?" he shot back with a cocky grin. The Englishman gave him a fiery glare as Ann quickly ate her breakfast and put her plate in the sink.

"I should get going," Antarctica mumbled heading back to the table. America raised an eyebrow and brushed crumbs off his bomber jacket. Instead of wearing the sweater and tie he simply had the brown heavy coat that was decorated with a circle patch on the left side of his chest and an American flag on his left forearm.

"Do you want a ride? I mean I could take you-" the American started.

"Thanks," Ann interrupted picking up her bag, "But no thanks. I'm walking again." He blinked and ran his hand through his messy hair trying to brush it down. But as always, one strand of hair stuck straight up defying gravity itself. Annabelle swore if she took hair gel to it that stupid cowlick wouldn't budge.

"Well… I guess that would be okay…" Alfred mumbled quietly mostly to himself than anyone else.

Arthur glanced at her as a flash of concern lit up in his eyes. "Are you sure? I don't want you getting kidnapped or something."

Antarctica smiled and opened the front door. "I'm a big girl Iggy, I think I can walk to school without having a guy grab me and drag me into a dark alley. Plus, I still have my cellphone with me. Don't worry about it."

Before the Brit could protest, she waved goodbye and slammed the door behind her. Antarctica gazed at the sky as she dug her iPod out of the pocket of her sweater. Today was another dreary day as usual. She shoved her ear buds into her ears and scrolled through her playlist and started walking towards the school. Finally, she tapped a song greatly admired by her and put the device back into her pocket.

Demons, of course she would be listening to it again. Annabelle loved "Imagine Dragons" to death, their songs always managed to speak to her even when she wasn't looking for it at that exact time. Eventually she would realize how much she needed it.

It was as if the song itself would just reach out to her, saying things she never realized it even mentioned until it all clicked into place. The meaning always changed every time she listened to it.

Ann eventually fell into the rhythm of the song, her feet hitting the pavement at the same tempo. Cars honked, tires screeched, lights flashed, people yelled, and faces passed by, but all she heard was the song thrumming in her mind.

It was a state of mind, as if she built up walls all around her so that no one could come into her conscience. To others she probably looked like she was sleep walking, which in a sense she guessed she was. In her mind she imagined a completely new life and world, one that she would enjoy and be happy without a horrid past haunting her every step.

Hey, a girl can dream.

This was the exact reason why Antarctica loved walking to school, she had time by herself and it was for herself. No brothers yelling at her, no strangers sneering at her down their noses, no teachers questioning her, no classmates pushing her around, and no therapist or doctors poking or prodding at her for once.

It was just her, and the silence was bliss.

Annabelle felt herself humming along, her fingers tapping to the beat. She always got like this when she started listening to music, once she put in those earbuds there was no one else in the world but her and the artist.

Almost like a conversation with herself, helping her admit her true feelings for herself. There were so many times where she lied to herself day after day just to make sure she wouldn't completely break down.

One of the main reasons this was her favorite "Imagine Dragons" song was because it represented her so well. On the outside everyone saw a girl who had a happy life and never faced anything wrong.

But no one would ever guess what broiled on the inside. Something so dark, it scared most people away when they figured it out.

Something cruel that most people didn't even understand.

Deep on the inside, there were many emotions. Anger, hate, confusion, sorrow, but every single one of them all had one thing in common, pain.

They would never guess that this curly haired, blue-eyed, blonde was fighting through one of the worst cases of depression people would ever experience. And this one couldn't be solved with a few therapy sessions or some pills. It would actually do quite the opposite.

In Ann's mind thoughts of past memories slowly faded away in the words of the song. She sighed and felt her eyes close as she continued walking. For now, the pain and suffering was gone yes, but soon the clock would strike midnight and POOF! She would be back to her rags and constant labor of living a lie. "I wish music could heal scars," she whispered out loud, "The ones under the skin."

Antarctica opened her eyes and saw the school slowly come into view. Most saw it as a waste, some saw it as a prison, others an opportunity, countless, didn't care anymore, maybe a few had mixed feelings about the entire situation. She on the other hand was different. She only saw it as hell itself.

Not because she hated school, oh no that wasn't it at all. She hated how she was treated there, looked as a piece of scum on the bottom of someone's shoe. Or an annoying parasite that everyone despised with a burning passion. Everywhere she went that scowled at her presence, as if her existence itself was a nuisance and a negative impact on her life. Like she didn't have the right to breathe the same air as them even.

They called her many things so far. Loser, fat, ugly, nerd, geek, parasite, pitiful excuse for a human being, disgrace to the human race, disgusting creature, monster, jerk, attention whore, wimp, piece of crap, etc. The list could go on and on.

Well she could say the feeling was mutual.

Antarctica sighed and closed her eyes again, she had walked this route so many times she didn't need to look down anymore. She simply listened to the melody filling her brain and taking over her thoughts.

'1 and 2, 3, 4,' she thought, softly singing the four-four rhythm in her mind repeatedly, '1 and 2, 3, 4.' After being in music and choir as well she could write out every single beat or note for this song.

Ann never meant to be like this, it just happened. After years of bottling her emotions up she had become an expert on acting like everything was perfect. Smiling and nodding, never questioning what people said. Like everything's going to be okay.

Fake it until you break it was basically a new motto for her now.

Everyone saw what they wanted to see, a happy little girl in a good home with people that loved her surrounding her. Like life was perfect and absolutely nothing was ever wrong with her. Almost as if everything was fine.

It's not, and deep inside she knew it never would be. It never has, never will, and never would ever again.

Out of pure habit Annabelle tugged down the sleeves of her sweater more and couldn't help but scowl in frustration, the stupid bandages were starting to show again to her constant annoyance. White pearly strips of cloth that went up both arms, now stained with crimson blood.

If you looked underneath, you would find crisscrossed lines running up both of her pale cream white arms. Some faded but still clearly visible scars, some scabbed over and barely close to healing, and some completely fresh and still dripping a slowly steady trail of the warm red liquid.

Then even deeper, you would find scars that were infected with hate and sorrow causing terrible pain. These were the scars wrapped under bandages up fake smiles, skin, and constant lies.

And that, that was where everything really was. Wrapped under bandages,

_Was where her demons hide._


	2. Chapter 2: If Everyone Cared

History: Antarctica was first discovered by a British explorer in the 1700's. Unfortunately they waited until the late 1800's to actually get territory. But since Norway has the most territory for time being, I chose for him to gain custody of the child. While England does follow in second Norway owns rights. This will help you understand the story in later events.

"EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" Antarctica lifted her head from her desk and moaned, not again. She was in her last and probably most despised class of the day, history, and because her normal teacher was sick Ludwig Beilschmidt or known as the personified human of Germany was filling in.

He was a tall man with slicked back blonde hair, blue eyes that could glare heart piercing daggers, and the build of a pro wrestler. With a menacing aurora to him that caused most to cringe when he opened his mouth to speak, he was probably one of the most respected and most feared, besides Russia of course, students in the entire school making him a perfect person to be chosen for substituting. Not to mention with that thick German accent of his every phrase he said sounded like he was yelling at someone in pure anger. Which it was in most cases anyway, she trained with him on a daily basis and had to sit through World Meetings with him so she knew the true extent of the terrifying fury of Ludwig.

The blonde glared at them with his penetrating tele eyes. "Now, despite vhat you say I actually do know how much you all hate zhis but ve are going to be doing a partner project," Germany folded his thick arms over his chest and set his face in a scowl as the class let out a simultaneous groan, "Ja, get over it. I enjoy zhis as much as I enjoy your vhining. I know you all are going to head for your buddies but part of zhis is picking someone new zhat you have never met. And if you start to argue zhat you know everyone here, zhe answer is nein. Sure you know of most people in this classroom, but knowing zhem personally is a whole different matter. If you can't name zhey're human name, favorite color, or favorite food zhen you do not know zhem."

Hearing that Ann stifled a sigh and ran her fingers through her long pale-blonde curls, this was definitely not going to end well. It wasn't that she didn't like the people here exactly, she just didn't like people in general. Especially the way they all judged her, she saw the look in their eyes. They sneered at her, and were always taunting her to see how far they could push her off the edge and make her lose her mind. Yup, that was her to everyone else. The antisocial, insane, depressed, weirdo that no one liked. And she did admit she was a little, okay, a LOT withdrawn from society at times but she just didn't want them to know. The less friends she had, the probability of someone uncovering her secret would drop immensely. Like England always said, "Better safe than sorry!"

"…now vizh zhat in mind, pick a partner and decide on zhe topic you vill be researching. It vill have to be based on a large, or even small, event zhat you personally zhink impacted the whole vorld. Create an argument backing up your claim and add visual affects to make it interesting if you vant an at least decent grade. If you vant an exceptional grade you need to make zhe exceptional debate. Class dismissed." Everyone rose almost in unison and headed out trying to pick their, or "zheir", partners. She glanced around hoping to find someone to work with, and her first thought was her boyfriend Canada.

Matthew Williams, or the personified human of the country Canada was a quiet, soft spoken, and extremely shy guy who actually went on most of time unnoticed. But while everyone knew him as a nobody, she knew him as much more; He was actually a sweet, adorable, awkward, sensitive guy and the nicest man you could ever meet.

Antarctica actually had her first official encounter with him at her first World Meeting, well, the first one she had actually been given the privilege to speak at. Ever since her brothers had taken her into their care they always took her to the world meetings since they didn't trust her to be home alone just yet. She had to sit either on one of their laps (this option stopped when she turned 10 years old and was too much of a distraction to do it) or in a corner of the room staying quiet throughout the entire thing for an hours. No comments, no playing around, no making distractions, no climbing on the table, no eating, no drinking, no messing with the other countries unless they were France (England hated him with a burning passion over some long and probably pointless rivalry), and absolutely no getting into trouble whatsoever. Just sit, draw or read to entertain herself, and wait until the meeting came to a close.

Not that it was boring, actually it was quite interesting seeing them yell, fight, and punch each other for no good reason. Now that the two brothers thought about it, they regretted not getting a babysitter and making her stay there no longer exposing her to that kind of violence. But the day she turned 15 (physically speaking of course), they took her to the meeting and gave her the big news. They had finally decided after much discussion and debate that she was old enough to be allowed to participate.

Of course that was exciting being told she was able to speak, it felt like she had become a full-fledged country! Not to mention they were going to let her pick her own seat even! Looking around she had tried to find one but almost all of them had been taken already. Innocently Italy had tried to find her one but like most countries didn't see a certain someone sitting in his seat and pushed her in it. Ann fell right onto the unsuspecting man's lap and just about fell off before an arm caught her. "S-sorry," she stuttered as she looked up, "I-"

That was when she saw him.

He had wavy blonde hair that went slightly below his chin, bright violet eyes that sparkled like jewels behind wired glasses, the most handsome face she had ever seen which made her guess he was about 19 physically speaking, and a hair curl that came out of the part in his hair and created one little loop before hanging down. He wore a long almost beige coat with brown gloves and a small polar bear sat next to him.

All of a sudden, her heart started to pound at an accelerated speed as their eyes met, blue and purple colliding. Her voice wouldn't work and her stomach was doing 360's. W-who was this man? And what was he doing to her that made her so tongue-tied? "Uh…" the male country swallowed hard and gave a small awkward and kind of crooked smile as he used his other hand to push his glasses up his nose, "Bonjour?"

She felt her cheeks heat up, he was French? His accent was actually adorable, soft and sweet almost like honey running down her ears. Well, except this was pleasant and wouldn't cause a huge mess or ruin her ears. She gave a small smile in an attempt of self-control to get over her emotions. "H-hi..."

'Oh come on! You've got to be kidding me!' she scolded herself as she tried to not freak out for time being, 'Do you have to be such a dork Antarctica?! Pull yourself together! Even though he IS an extremely hot… doe eyed… SHUT UP!'

His face started to turn red and she realized he was blushing too! Did she have something on her cheek? Was her hair messed up after the fall? 'Wait… why am I worrying about how I look in front of him?' she thought to herself, 'Why is my heart going so fast?'

That was when she realized that love at first sight was definitely real, he was that perfect guy she had a picture of in her mind. She felt his hand moving to the middle of her back to help her sit back up. "I-I'm Antarctica, what's your name?"

"I-I know," was the first thing he blurted out but his face turned, if possible, even redder, "I-I mean I'm C-Canada." She found his stuttering absolutely adorable, and it fit his cute timid manor. Giving a welcoming smile, she put her other hand on his shoulder so she could regain her center of balance.

"Nice to meet you Canada," she said sincerely, it was more than nice actually. MUCH more. It was perfect in her opinion. But before Matthew could even open his mouth to say anything back to her, England had scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the seat next to his and made her sit there the entire meeting. Apparently Arthur was fine for her choosing her own seat as long that it wasn't ON a man or even near a man. Yet the two continued staring at each other the whole time.

They started out as simply friends for the longest time, going to see movies or hanging out at each other's house. When she turned sixteen he finally got the courage and asked her out on a real date which started their boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

She loved working with him on projects because he was a great listener and actually pretty smart so they were a great team. Unfortunately, as she looked for him someone else had already taken him as a partner, well that was just perfect. She gave a long sigh and looked around for someone else, someone who would be smart yet nice and hopefully didn't judge her.

Then after a few moments… THERE!

A girl still sat in her seat, absorbed in her manga. 'Perfect,' Ann thought as smiled and walked over slowly. "Um, hello. I'm Antarctica Kirkland. I-I was wondering if you would like to work on the project together?"

The small, curly-haired brunette looked up in surprise obviously startled and closed the manga slowly. She blinked, adjusting her glasses over her hazel eyes and smiled shyly, a light blush tinting her cheeks. "S-sure, if you want to. I'm Megan by the way," she added quickly the blush spreading.

"It's a pleasure to finally talk to you Megan." Giving a glance at the petite girl Annabelle started to pack her stuff up throwing books and random papers of probably already late assignments into her blue and black shoulder bag carelessly. If you couldn't guess, she really didn't care about organization, (to England's absolute annoyance and always blamed America saying that he taught her how to be a slob) at all unless it was something of importance or precious to her personally. A book report that was about The Stamp Act and an essay about some people wanting to have Meatless Friday, yes some countries are vegetarians, did not go under either of the two categories in her opinion.

"It's nice to meet you too." Megan smiled, copying her action and beginning to put her papers back in her binder. Hers was neatly organized with brightly colored tabs and individual folders for each different type of assignment for each class. Now Ann felt like a complete failure and almost envied those skills, but pushed those feelings away.

"Well we could work on the project at my place if you want. I have some supplies that would be helpful for whatever topic we choose." She hated being at other people's houses, it honestly made her feel insecure. Anything unfamiliar to her made her uncomfortable.

"If you wouldn't mind, that would be great."

"Oh but I have to do a quick cheerleading thing first. It won't take that long, I just need to stop by the gym and pick up a couple of forms. You know, physicals, uniform contract, schedules, etc." Antarctica looked over at the brunette, "You don't mind, do you?" Sure that was the polite thing to do, but in reality she actually hoped she would end up minding, Ann hated cheerleading with a burning passion and all the cheerleaders around her.

"Of course not; that's perfectly fine!" Megan said immediately as she finished packing everything up and zipped up her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder and pushing her glasses up her nose.

Ann started to walk off then glanced back at the girl with her hypnotic bright blue eyes. "Well, are you coming?"

"O-oh! Yes, s-sorry," Megan stuttered her glasses sliding down her nose as she hurried to catch up and fell into step with the blonde girl eventually, a light and delicate blush dusting her cheeks once again. Antarctica hid a small smile, this girl was a little timid. "So how long have you been interested in cheerleading for?"

Annabelle sighed running her fingers through her hair, she really hated talking about the stupid so-called 'sport' when in reality it was just a showcase of pretty girls in skirts so short wearing spandex would be longer and cover more skin and tops so low they couldn't bend over without everything falling out. Sure in the movies it was all about "teamwork" and "perseverance" all of that moral crap when in reality it wasn't even close to that. She knew all of that was another fairytale. "I was never interested in it but since one of my brothers is the captain of the football team (she was of course talking about America) I was recruited," she gave a weak smile, "I kind of look like a stereotype cheerleader don't I?"

When you had the blond curls, the blue eyes, and the pale skin life made you a life-size Barbie doll. Some people kept saying that she was pretty, but she never had believed it. It wasn't just the fact that other girls constantly told her she was ugly, which she knew she was already so she didn't need the reminding her anyhow. But she on the other hand saw right through and saw a monster, no, DEMON brewing underneath. One she had sadly created herself in a sense actually.

"I wouldn't say that exactly." The short girl patted Antarctica's shoulder. "Or at least, all the cheerleaders I've met aren't nice like you are so you aren't like them on the inside." She shrugged slightly, brushing an unruly strand of hair from her face. "I'm sure you'll be fine, don't worry."

She shoved her hands in the pockets of her sweater and continued walking down the cold isolated halls. After school let out it was almost creepy walking through them alone and there be no noise. "Actually, one of the requirements was how pretty I was on a scale of their own opinions," she laughed, "I guess the book are right!"

Megan smiled slightly and tucked a brunette strand of hair behind her ear shyly. "Well, I'm pretty sure your brother will appreciate having your support at least. If I may ask, who exactly is your brother?"

"Brothers actually," she corrected turning towards her, "And they're England and America, you can probably figure out which one plays football without me having to tell you right? Sorry, that's just me babbling again. But do you know either of them?" 'Oh God please say no!' her mind yelled.

Megan blushed slightly pushing her glasses up her nose. "I-I've seen them around, but I haven't really talked to them, except that time that Arthur helped me find a book I was looking for in the library."

Ann's smile faded immediately, oh this was just absolutely perfect. Could she ever meet one person who DIDN'T know England or America? She meant as a person of course, everyone knows of the countries since they were two of the most popular ones in a sense. "Oh… you do?" she looked at the ground, "I'm nothing like them though, trust me. I mean I was adopted so we shouldn't be expected to do so right? I was actually hoping you didn't know them but then again," she chuckled bitterly as she struggled to keep her facade, "Everyone knows them I guess."

"Hey, it's good that you're your own person." Megan smiled slightly. "I like you the way you are, and I'm sure your brothers do too. I'm sure your brothers wouldn't have offered to work on a project with me."

Annabelle grinned and walked into the hall that led towards the gymnasium, this girl wasn't all that bad. A bit shy, but once she actually opened her mouth she was not that bad. "Well… maybe England as a nice gesture or something like that. Always trying to be a, 'gentleman' no matter what or where he is."

"It's sweet," the brunette laughed quietly, "You don't get many of them nowadays; at least he tries." She held the door open and gestures for Antarctica to go in. "The only 'gentleman' I really know is my big brother, and he's more motherly than anything." Her eyes brighten as she smiles.

Antarctica chuckled then glanced at her walking inside holding the door for her as well. "Who's your brother? I think I might know him."

Meg smiled even brighter at the mention of her older brother. "Tino? Tino Väinämöinen?" She followed Annabelle inside the gym, shying away slightly at the large crowd that had already gathered.

Ann's eyes widened at the all too familiar name, one she hadn't hear in decades practically if you were counting in human years. "You're Uncle Finland's sister?!" she shrieked skidding to a halt.

She stopped so she didn't run into the blonde, and she looked beyond startled at the loud outburst. "Y-yes?!"

Annabelle stared at her as her blue eyes started to flash as memories passed by. "I-I was Norway's daughter..." she swallowed hard as she started to shake uncontrollably a hard tight knot forming in her throat, "Finland was one of the reasons I'm still alive."

"I-I..." Megan stuttered, her eyes widening as she bit her lip. "I-I'm so sorry, I-I had no idea..." She gently pulled Antarctica into a hug, despite their significant height difference.

Ann sniffled and wiped her eyes, she had been on the verge of tears but luckily none had escaped. "I-I'll tell you everything later," she mumbled.

Megan quickly pulled a packet of tissues out of her pocket and handed one to Antarctica. "A-Alright, i-if you feel comfortable with it..."

"It's fine really." She turned back into her normal self, smiling brightly. "Well I'll just pick the papers up and we can head to my place."

She smiled back, but gently. "Okay... But you don't have to be strong about it...It's alright to cry."

Ann's face hardened, she hated when people said that. Crying made you vulnerable, crying made people see your pain. "Crying shows your weak," she whispered taking the papers from a cheerleader who gave her a bitter glare, "I learned that a long time ago."

Megan's eyes closed and she bit her lip. "No..." she whispered. "It shows that you're not afraid to show weakness..."

Antarctica turned away, what did she know?! Who did she think she was talking to her like some professor would talk to a mislead pupil?! She buried her emotions deep down and started to walk. "Shouldn't we be going now?"

"Oh, um, yes..." She quickly followed the blonde, tugging at her sleeves.

Antarctica started to walk up a hill towards a mansion that stood on the top. "That's Kirkland Mansion, my place."

It was a quite big estate, and the property had over 300 acres of land surrounding it. On the outside it looked like something ancient yet delicate, like it should be in a painting. Every detail made each individual piece its own unique part, yet it was also symmetrical. The coloring was white and a grey color that went with some bright gold adding an interesting contrast to everything else around it.

The short girl blinked soaking in the house before her and pushed her glasses up her nose once again. "It's beautiful." She let a smile grace her lips. "Very Arthur."

Antarctica couldn't help but laugh. "That's the British for you," she said smiling. Ann got her iPod out again and Megan glanced at over. "What are you doing?"

She glanced over and scrolled through her playlist. "Playing some music, I can't help myself," she shrugged, "It's kind of like therapy for me I guess."

Meg nodded slowly before turning her attention back to walking. "So… what song are you going to listen to?"

"Stop talking and you'll hear it," Antarctica said with a smirk tapping on one of her favorites. She felt in a very sad mood since she was walking with the sister of her uncle from her old family so the song fit her right now.

Megan perked up as it started to play softly and looked up at her as she listened to a few of the lines. "Who is this even by?"

"Nickelback," Annabelle said with a grin, "Love all of their songs. This one would definitely be my favorite though. If Everyone Cared."

Meg paused as she realized the reason, the true message and why she loved it so much. "Oh Ann… I never would have…"

Antarctica smiled weakly at her. "It's okay, I'm used to it. People always have a freak out when they realize I'm a depressed sad little girl," she stared up at the sky watching the clouds roll by in a hypnotizing manner, never having the same shape. "I find the pain in this song actually beautiful. The truth is bittersweet in everything, but this really brings it out in the open for once. When you think about it," she glanced at the shorter girl, "It explains life. People die because people hate. If you take away all of those horrible things in life then people would have a chance at life. Suffering would no longer be a problem. Even dying of old age wouldn't be a problem because if we would all get along then we would have solved that and find cures to many other diseases as well. I mean the Bubonic Plague only happened because the Chinese were at war with Europe. You find it throughout all of history, people fight and there's death involved even if it's not their own."

Megan was looking at her in some form of awe, her hazel eyes wide. "How can you even do that?"

Ann turned towards her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you're so calm about everything… I can tell you have been through some ups and downs but still…" she shook her head in disbelief, "You still manage to smile. It might be a fake one but it takes a lot of strength to act like everything's okay. Don't you ever just feel like it's too much? Do you ever just get pushed off the edge of your limits?" the small Brunette asked. Antarctica paused and pursed her lips, pondering before finally giving her answer. 'Should I really tell her?' she wondered, 'maybe she's going through something similar.'

"Well," she said hesitantly, "It's definitely not easy I can tell you that. Some days are worse than others. But I can manage I guess. Like I always say, fake it until your break it. Sometimes it takes a lot to break making it hurt more. People were made to be loved and things were made to be used," she looked Megan right in the eyes, "The reason why our world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used. It's a terrible truth, but our very existence revolves around it."

The brunette just stood there, absolutely dumb founded. "Just…" she hugged her tight without warning.

Annabelle let out a small yelp at the surprise hug and looked down at Megan, raising an eyebrow. "What the heck?"

Megan glanced up at her and let go automatically, blushing slightly before regaining her composure. "You, are something else Antarctica."

She tilted her head to the side, yeah she was a lot different than most but was this something else she meant? She didn't sound like she was trying to insult her. "Really? Well yeah I'm a country and all so that's going to of course make me different but do you mean something else? Is your meaning a good thing or a bad thing?"

"It's a very, VERY good thing. I wish there were more people like you. The world could definitely use them I'll tell you that. All we have are selfish, power hungry, war mongering, savage, malevolent, and all around messed up people in the world so it seems. But when someone sees that there are still heroes out there, it starts a movement."

"Seriously, I've never seen or thought for that matter that I'd meet anyone like you. To see someone this strong after going through all of that crap in life is about as rare as a pig flying. You serve as a role model to so many people, including me."

"Yeah, but what about my brothers-"

"ESPECIALLY THEM! Now, don't ever even think about giving up or stopping okay?"

Ann smiled slightly, she honestly had never thought of herself as some 'hero' or whatever. She wasn't anything special, she was the opposite. But seeing Megan's pleading hazel eyes stare at her with this sense of respect, astonishment, and absolute admiration made her keep her thoughts in her head for time being. So instead, she was at least going to play along with all of this and try to show the brunette that she could be something and someone worth placing their faith in. "I'll definitely try.

"Then maybe we could finally,

_See the day when nobody dies."_


	3. Chapter 3: You Found Me

Megan stared at the house again, still in awe and fascination as Antarctica walked onto the porch. "I've spent a lot of time in Britain and I have to say this is still the grandest house I've ever seen. It kinda reminds me of Francis' house...But somewhat more sophisticated and subtle."

Ann nodded pulling out a key and unlocking the door, it was rather extravagant compared to the average houses now. She remembered also experiencing this feeling about the house when she had first arrived. "Yeah, but this house has been in the family for years. AMERICA was raised here!"

Megan laughed. "Are you implying that your brother's old?"

Antarctica smirked and winked opening the door and going inside. "You betcha, but everyone knows England is WAY older!" She giggled, failing to notice the shadow leaning in the door way that had a pair of piercing green eyes.

Megan bit her lip to stop a laugh escaping her. "I'm sure he's not that old..." She fixed her glasses, smiling and coming inside.

Annabelle snorted and flipped her hair behind her shoulder with one hand while she used the other to close the door. "Come on, he's practically ancient! I mean I'm pretty sure he was around the time of Rome!" The two girls giggled uncontrollably. The green eyes narrowed with aggravation. Oh really? Talking about him like that to her friends, well he guess she was a friend, was acceptable now? No. Way.

"Well...At least that means he's mature and experienced in dealing with situations." Meg shrugged. "And he certainly doesn't look old, well I guess that is because he's kind of an immortal country but besides that. H-he's actually kinda cute." She blushed, her shoulder length hair falling in front of her face.

Ann rolled her eyes and finally sensed the presence of another person in the room. She froze and her hands started to shake again. It couldn't have been... "H-he's right behind me isn't he?" she stuttered swallowing hard. She wasn't going to live another day if he heard anything they had just said.

"H-huh?!" the brunette whirled around and was mortified to be greeted with the sight of England, and her face flushed even further. A slight squeak emitted from her throat, barely even audible. "O-oh..." She looked down at her feet.

"Do you think he heard everything..?" Antarctica whimpered her heart thumping hard in her chest now. Oh God, she was beyond dead! Last time France made a comment on Arthur being a grumpy old man, the meeting had to come to end after the damage of three chairs, two tables, fourteen glasses, and Francis' body of course. She didn't want to look like him at the end of _this _meeting.

"Oh no!" a sarcastic British voice spat making her wince, "His ears have been so worn from old age he can't even hear America anymore!" He was beyond disgusted with Antarctica's little joke.

"Somehow, I think that's a yes." Megan gulped, cringing as well. "S-sorry Mr. E-England...W-We didn't m-mean to offend y-you!" Although she was still trying to hold back her laughs, she was a little scared of the tall green eyed monstrosity.

Arthur came into the light and crossed his arms over his chest as his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. He stood before the girls, evaluating his situation. "Oh I'm sure you didn't," he announced as he sent an icy glare in Antarctica's direction as she shrunk away, "Her on the other hand..." He bet that she lived to see his embarrassment.

"I-I'm sure she didn't sir! Please don't be angry with her!" Megan pleaded desperately, having a hatred for conflict and a newfound fear for the Brit. She definitely didn't want to cause Antarctica any more troubles.

Annabelle smiled but it was a nervous one. Why had she been so stupid! Of course he was going to be home! Maybe she really has been spending too much time with America these days. "Oh... that?" she chuckled nervously, "I-I was joking!" Which was partially true, but honestly? He WAS grumpy, and he WAS getting old.

He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, not believing a word she said, but still finding humor. "Oh really? And I suppose you think old men don't have brains either? Or are you just so frantic to get out of trouble now that your so-called rational thinking had flew out the window?" he said dryly.

Megan bit her lip as her eyes darted between them, sensing the tension that could be cut with a knife between the siblings. "Y-your house is very beautiful Mr. Kirkland..." she tried in an attempt to change the subject.

He gazed at her with his emerald green eyes and his expression soften somewhat actually as he transformed from angry to polite. Seeing the new atmosphere, Ann let out a sigh of relief, it had actually worked. "Thank you. And who might you be?"

"I'm Megan; Finland's younger sister. It's a pleasure to meet you. And please excuse my intrusion," she added. She realized no one was informed she'd be coming over, given they were just assigned the project that brought her here in the first place.

He smiled giving her a small nod of reassurance. "Oh don't fret about that. It's no problem at all- wait..." he replayed her sentence in her mind and frowned raising an eyebrow, "Did you just say Finland?" Antarctica swallowed hard and almost hysterically dragged Megan up the tall staircase at a rapid pace.

"Well it's nice talking to you and we really appreciate you not getting mad about everything and all but we really need to get to work on our project! Don't want to have a bad grade and all of that stuff! You know how strict Germany is about these things! Bye, love you too, hugs and kisses, blah, blah, blah, and see you later!" she yelled practically babbling whatever came to her mind from her desperate yearning to escape, also waving at him a little.

"B-bye!" The brunette hurriedly scurried up the stairs as she tried to keep up with the young country without tripping over her own two feet, muttering desperate apologies under her breath.

Ann shoved the small girl in her room and locked the door behind her. She sighed and fell down sinking to her knees and resting her head against her hard wooden door as her heart rate finally steadied to normal once again. As she regained her composure she covered her face with her hands letting out a frustrated sigh of some sort. That had definitely way too close for comfort in her opinion. "Oh God I thought I was dead..." She kept hearing England say Finland's name, and realized she should have mentioned the relationship a little more in depth.

"I-I'm sorry..." Megan whimpered softly. Her voice was barely audible as she lowered herself onto the floor beside Antarctica.

She smiled weakly at her and ran her fingers through her hair, forgetting the whole matter with Arthur and such. "It's not your fault, I was an idiot for not thinking of the probability of England being home already."

She rested a hand on Antarctica's shoulder. "I'm sure he isn't really mad... People will cool off eventually… We all poke fun at our siblings every once in a while... My big brother's a very... mature age..."

She flinched at the mention of Finland, God those were difficult times... ones she had been so determined to forget over the years when she was honest to herself. No one would want to remember even the slightest little bits of what she had been personally through in her childhood of living with the Nordics. She had the scars physically and mentally to prove it. "So, do you wanna hear everything?"

"Only if you want to tell me..." She was very curious about what she had to tell, but wasn't sure if the story was going to make Antarctica more broken up.

She waved her off, she was done trying to keep all of this hidden from everyone. If she did any longer, she knew she was eventually going to lose it. "Really, it's fine. I'm not only ready, but I need to tell someone. Do you actually mind if I play some music? It's how I cope."

"Then I'm here to listen, and go ahead." Megan gave a faint smile. Ann pulled out her iPod once again and scrolled through tapping on the best song for this situation.

Ann pulled her knees to her chest as she played the comforting song by "The Fray". You Found Me really fit the moment. This wasn't going to be easy for her at all. Just going through all of these memories caused her to cringe as pain built up in her heart, slowly piling one after another. Maybe God just created her to show what real suffering was.

"Like I said, I was and I guess am Norway's daughter. I lived with Nordics and everything was great in my opinion. We were happy, we had no worries, and I had a family that care. Everything was going perfect until one day Norway... changed... He seemed distant, and got irritated with every little thing… he started yelling at me ordering me around like some slave. It scared me more than anything else so I… I decided to back talk him. Just asking why he was ordering me around like that. This was probably 1the worst idea I ever had. In return he slapped me right across the face. He had suddenly become abusive. Punching me, beating me, even simple verbal abuse..." Antarctica was never sure what she had done other than talking back that one time for him to become this way towards her. She learned to isolate herself from him as much as possible, but this only made it worse.

Megan bit her lip so hard it drew blood, clenching her fists at her sides. Anger and sadness swelled in her stomach and chest, but she suppressed it barely from where Antarctica could see.

"Then Uncle Sweden started watching over me more, making sure I was following every single order to the highest expectation. If I didn't... he would beat me with that belt of his. Iceland started as well and the abuse ranged from simple slaps across the face to even burning me so I would learn my place...It seemed like the same episode over and over again, yet I still wasn't used to it…" her eyes fill with tears.

Megan pulled her into a hug quickly holding back some of her own tears. "I-I'm so sorry...I h-had no idea...L-Let it out..."

The anger grew to a level Ann had never experienced before. Those she had always called her family were suddenly seen in a new darkness by her all over again, and a lump in her throat built up until she felt like she couldn't breathe.

Antarctica squeezed her eyes shut as tears streaked down her cheeks. "I-I couldn't stand it anymore," she whimpered as memories flashed right in front of her, "I wanted to die... but Denmark and Finland wanted me to have a better life. They always managed to make me laugh, even after the worst punishments." She felt her whole body shaking, it had been a long time since she spoke these words out loud.

Megan said nothing, wanting to let the blonde talk. Tears starting to trickle down her own cheeks as she rubbed Antarctica's back soothingly. It felt good to let her emotions out… this was long overdue.

Ann sniffled burying her face in her arms. "T-they tried reasoning with Norway b-but he instead took his frustrations out on me. He had a knife at the time and accidentally cut open my back with a long jagged slash," she whimpered. She started to tremor while the flashbacks started to occur. She hated thinking about the past treacheries that happened during that time. She still cringed every time it got brought up in her mind.

Megan immediately retracted her hands, afraid she was hurting Antarctica. She was obviously appalled and disgusted by her 'brothers'' actions, and the poor girl's face was now a pale green color.

"But, Finland and Denmark decided they had enough of seeing her niece hurt like this so they dropped me off here. Alfred found me sitting on the doorstep and for once in a long time, he showed me love and I felt safe. England and America gained custody and no one ever questioned we were a family," she smiled weakly, "That's why no matter what I will always love them both. They saved my life and gave me a real definition of family." She could never thank them enough for the life she gained back because of them. What she said was true; they HAD showed her family, and love, and most importantly, happiness. For once she had hope and could put her trust in someone to be there for her no matter what.

Megan smiled crookedly, furiously wiping at her eyes. "No matter what anyone says to you, always remember that there are people who love you and that you honestly are the strongest person I have ever met." Her kind words made Ann feel like there were people there for her, and that there was good in this world.

Antarctica laughed bitterly tears still flowing rapidly. "Yeah right, strong? I'm sitting here wailing like an infant!"

"You don't even realize how strong you really are...You've stood up and carried on with your head held high and not let all the...horrible things that have happened to you hold you back. You've stayed brave and not let anything break you, and what happened mold you into who you are today. Can't get much stronger than that. Everyone needs to cry sometimes... even warriors." The brunette paused. Despite her wavering voice Ann could tell that she was 100% sincere. "I'm sorry...for what happened. I know you probably don't want sympathy...But thank you for trusting in me with all of this. Oh, and remember; you are the perfect you in this moment."

Annabelle wiped her eyes with the ends of her sleeves and sniffled. "I don't want pity, sympathy is something different. But it's been 10 years (over a hundred years in human years actually) since I've seen my old family," she felt her heart lurch hard in her chest, "I-I have always missed them. Just because they abused me doesn't mean they didn't love me deep down."

She yearned the day to see her family once again and they would all be happy. She just wanted to give them one last hug and see if they forgive her for not being a good enough family member. Maybe even a simple, "I forgive you."

"I have no idea how much strength that must take…" Megan whispered resting her chin on the blonde's shoulder as she squeezed her tight, "You really do amaze me. Please never ever change, you are a role-model."

Ann smiled slightly and blinked away the tears that had gathered on her eyelashes as she replayed what the small brunette had said in her mind over and over again to make sure she had heard correctly. 'Really?' she thought to herself pondering on the subject, 'I amaze her? Me? A role-model?'

'They always cared,' she thought as Megan continued to hug her tight, 'and even though they did some horrible things, I will forgive. All I wanted to do is see them again and tell them that it's okay. I would hate to be sitting her while all of them are completely miserable thinking that I hate all of them and still hold a grudge.' She wanted to restart, she wanted to try and gain back trust towards not only her father but her uncles as well. Finland and Denmark were scared to take her away yes, but they did it anyway probably under the threat of her life as well as their own. Her father probably couldn't justify his actions towards her and neither could Sweden or Iceland, but she would put the past behind her.

Antarctica tried to force back all of the past events she had gone through to the back of her mind so she wouldn't get any more emotional than she already was. She didn't need to find herself breaking down all over again in front of Megan. But slowly, her mind went back to individual memories…


	4. Chapter 4: I'm Just a Kid

**Hey guys this chapter will be rather intense and contains child abuse. Now do not say none of this would ever happen in real life because it's all what I went through as a child so don't try to be a hater okay? Have fun reading.**

"Why can't you do anything right for once in your life!?" a voice screamed. Ann cried out as her father slapped her hard across the face knocking her to the floor. A pain shot through her spine, reaching out towards the rest of her body. She cringed, fighting the agony shooting through her face. She could see her cheek tinting red in the shape of a handprint already, and her face began to grow hot. The Norwegian towered over her, eyes blazing with anger and fist clenched. "Are you trying to make me mad!?"

Antarctica shook her head trembling as she struggled to get to her feet. "N-no papa," her blue eyes, full of pure terror, looked away, avoiding his gaze as she struggled to raise her upper body with her already bruised right arm, "I tried-"

SMACK. The sound echoed through the empty hall way as she was thrown back again, and her cheek stinging almost as much as the tears building in her eyes. "Look at me when I'm speaking to you!" Lukas yelled, taking a hard pounding step towards her, shaking the ground underneath her, "LOOK AT ME!"

She lifted her head as she tried to keep herself from crying, she couldn't do that or else he would just get even angrier with her. She stared through his angry eyes, trying not to trigger anything. Stomping over, he grabbed her neck and lifted her up in the air. She let out a squeak and kicked as her feet left the ground.

"P-papa you're hurting me!" she wailed. Her face had reddened, and she felt a static numbness throughout her helpless body.

"Do you really think I look like I care?!" he snapped lifting her higher until she was level with his head, "I simply asked for you to go outside to get some water but instead you play around!"

That wasn't true though, she had been chasing after her bucket since it was too heavy for a little five-year-old like her. She dropped it, causing the water to drench her, and the bucket started rolling away. She could see how this looked like her playing around, but it's not like he knew, or as he stated, cared. But right now it didn't seem like a good time to say anything for the fear of enraging him even more.

When she didn't say anything, the pain growing too much in her throat, he released her neck, letting her fall to the floor hard. Her arm connected with the wood with a solid thud and she laid there, afraid to even move. "Look at you," Norway hissed, glowering down at her with his cold, violet eyes, "A parasite. You're no country, just some disease. Feeding off of others because you can't fend for yourself. You disgust me and I'm ashamed that you're even in my house."

He gave her a sharp kick in the ribs and she squealed in pain. He kicked her again, except harder and in the stomach. She tasted vomit coming up her throat but quickly swallowed it down in fear of getting her father even more infuriated. She rolled onto her side biting back her screams and puke. With that he walked off, but not before he said one last statement. "You're no daughter of mine."

There she laid as she stared after him, waiting until he turned the corner before bursting into tears. Did he really mean it? She didn't want to believe her father had disowned her, she didn't want to believe that she had disappointed him. She tried so much in everything she did just to prove herself to him.

She sat up bawling uncontrollably, her sides heaving with sobs racking her already battered body. "Ann?"

At the sound of the familiar voice she turned and her eyes widened in excitement. "U-uncle Denmark!" Mathias, or the personification of the country Denmark wore his usual long black trench coat that went to his mid-calf, a red suit underneath with a black tie, and a small black and red hat on the left side of his head. He was usually smiling all the time and giving that signature cackle of his. But right now he was for once frowning, staring at her with alarming concern. She quickly wiped her face clear of all tears, trying to reassure him that she was alright. Unluckily, it didn't work very well, with the tears still falling and her face blotchy and red.

The Danish man walked over slowly and knelt down beside her. "Antarctica… what happened to you?" he asked his voice cracking.

She started to cry even harder. "I-I made papa mad!" she howled uncontrollably, rubbing her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her, "I-I d-didn't m-mean t-to!"

His sea blue eyes brimmed with sympathy and understanding. "No darling," he whispered patting her back soothingly, "He's not angry with you personally. He's just having a bad day again…"

"W-why does papa hate me?" she whimpered staring up at him. There was a long, uneasy pause before Mathias sighed and ran a hand through his obnoxious blonde hair that stood straight up.

"He doesn't hate you hun," he picked her up setting her in his lap and rocking her slowly, "He's just dealing with some very difficult things. None of it has to do with you okay? No matter what people tell you, always remember that it's not your fault." She buried her face into his black trench coat.

"I-it hurts…" she wiped her eyes on her sleeves, "I was so scared…" As softly as possible he hushed her.

"I know it's hard Ann… but you can do it. You've been through all of this for two years, a few more days will fly by. You just have to stick with it and stay strong. Yes it will be more difficult at times, but it's worth it. Please, believe me when I say I'll be here for every step of the way. So will Tino. And one day, we'll get you out of here. One day, you won't have to worry about anymore of this pain or abuse. You will be free."

She looked up slightly, eyes full of pure hope for a change. "Promise?" she mumbled her voice muffled by the thick material and his chest. He gave her a smiled and kissed her fore-head gently.

"Cross my heart darling."

"WHAT?!" Norway roared. "It's for her own good! Maybe that rat should learn to fend for herself instead of hanging off other countries! She has to take care of herself, she has to learn. What better way than to show her how the world really works? You have no right to try to criticize me on how I raise MY daughter! She is my child and you are just her uncles! At least Sweden and Iceland understand the importance of punishing a youth!" He was beyond furious. How could Finland and Denmark come in here and tell him that he was not disciplining Ann fairly?

"Lukas... i-it's just… she's getting seriously injured after your… u-uh… e-episodes…" Tino piped up, cringing under Norway's piercing glare. He was just about as scared as little Antarctica of the Norwegian.

"I don't care! She also gets seriously hurt falling off her bike, or tripping over a crack in the sidewalk! It's a part of life, something she appears not to have much experience in!" He thought about the reason behind this 'intervention.' Who do they think they are? Going out and yelling at him like this? He knew what he was doing and what nerve did they have to critique his parenting skills in general? Annabelle needed to learn from her mistakes and needed to know who was in charge in this house. She was a simple little girl and had no reason to think otherwise.

"Norway! She's in serious danger around you! We just want to help! You can't go around beating her to almost-death! It's not healthy, for either of you," Denmark exclaimed, noticing they weren't getting very far with this encounter.

The sudden realization hit, and he was enraged. "DID ANTARCTICA SET YOU UP TO THIS?! DID SHE MAKE YOU THINK THESE THINGS?! Well, I'll tell you one thing, she hasn't seen the worst of it! If she thinks that is pain, she doesn't know what's coming!" Tino and Mathias tried to pry him off track, but it was no use. He was a lot bigger, not to mention stronger, especially when he was angry. They watched as he marched to Annabelle's room, too terrified to move.

Lukas slammed open the door, seeing Ann playing with the few dolls she had left. Before he had started disciplining her, he had spoiled her rotten with whatever he thought suitable for a small little girl. He now regretted that, knowing it had probably made her soft in the end. She looked up at him as he came into the room with curious blue eyes, trying to read his expression. He seemed mad as usual, but she couldn't exactly figure out what she had done wrong this time to make him so angry this time. She did ALL the dishes, cleaned ALL his clothes with the correct temperature of water and soaps, and she made sure she had cleaned out EVERYTHING in the horse stables that she was capable of.

"Good evening, sir," she said innocently, not even daring to call him papa, but deciding she had done nothing that she should be worried about. There was nothing he could be mad at her about, right?

"Don't you _dare_ even pretend like nothing has gone down! I know you told Denmark and Finland about your other punishments, and I know you exaggerated it like always you little brat!" he pointed an accusing finger at her, "You don't know what pain really is, you don't know-!"

"But sir, I-"

"DO NOT INTERUPT ME WHEN I'M SPEAKING TO YOU!" he roared. SMACK. She made a small whimper, and fell silent. She inched herself away from him slowly, which made him even more mad. He charged towards her, ramming his shoulder into her face, causing everything to slowly spin around her. She felt like she was going to puke. She noticed him trying to hit her again, so she rolled over, dodging his fist, which hit the hardwood floor. In a desperate attempt of escape, Ann got back up and sprinted towards the door. She got halfway there when a pair of strong, forceful hands appeared on her shoulders, dragging her away from her only chance at freedom.

Norway pulled her back, while simultaneously starting to unbuckle his belt. Ann's eyes widened as she heard the familiar zith of the fabric and felt the leather tap against her lower back area. She pulled away from his grip out of desperation, but only for a second before he grabbed a hold of her again.

He pushed Ann to the ground with as much force he could muster at the moment, tired of the disobedience. He put one foot on her chest to keep her down, putting a little pressure to ensure that she was pinned down and not going to go anywhere. He raised his hand before he whipped her with the belt once…twice… three times while she screamed as the metal buckle hit her as well, wailing in pain squirming underneath his foot. "Oh, cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it. This isn't even the start," He moved his arm up, and struck her in the face. She felt paralyzed, not even able to cry out anymore.

When Annabelle thought she couldn't take any more of the lashes for the fear of passing out from the immensely growing pain, Denmark and Finland burst through the door surprising both her and her father making him stop in mid-swing. "NORWAY, STOP! YOU'RE HURTING HER!" They looked down at her helpless body, her bloodstained clothes, and terrified expression. Finland felt like throwing up just looking at what his relative did to his niece, she was only six years old and yet she was experiencing the horrors that made people as old as him cringe. This wasn't fair for her, she hadn't done anything wrong and it was technically all his fault for confronting Norway in the first place.

Lukas glared at them, doubling the belt with one hand as he lifted his foot slowly off of her chest so she could finally breathe again. "Get. Out. NOW! This is none of your concern! I may discipline her the way I choose, it's my decision! I don't need either of you trying to criticize me on my methods so just go on with your day!" he snapped as Ann gasped to get air back into her lungs. He was beyond furious now. What made them think they could come in here and interrupt Ann's lesson? Ann felt she couldn't get enough air, and she began to panic. She didn't want her two uncles to get caught in the midst of all this chaos, she didn't want them to get hurt too.

"Norway! She's freaking bleeding for heaven's sake! You're going way too far this time and it's getting out of hand! I know discipline is needed in some situations but this isn't one of them! You're getting completely out of control-" Denmark started but was stopped as the other Nordic grabbed him by his collar growling.

"I suggest you back off before her punishment will increase dramatically! I swear you interfere and I WILL take it out on her understand?!" he roared making Mathias' eyes widen along with Antarctica's. Little did Norway notice that she was slowly getting to her feet and inching towards the door past both of them. He was too busy with the other two. Tino did see her out of the corner of his eye and tried to distract her father to ensure her escape for now, all Lukas needed to do was calm down for a little bit.

"Please! What did she do that was so wrong?!" he cried as the Norwegian let the Danish man go.

"What did she do?! She started feeding both of you lies, exaggerating her punishments to make me look like some bad guy! But she's the real villain!" he turned to face her when she realized she was already up off the floor. Ran away, AGAIN? This was it. She needed to learn, and she needed to learn now. He spun around to see her out in the hallway trying to go downstairs, "GET BACK HERE YOU BRAT!"

The second she heard his voice raise she sprinted down the halls heading to the stairwell. She didn't dare look back, in fear that he was right behind her. She didn't want to see his huge hands reaching out towards her, his eyes reaching into her soul. Norway tried to follow but Denmark and Finland blocked him from getting through the doorway. Lukas felt his rage surge and he elbowed Tino hard in the gut making him fall down and Mathias knocked the Norwegian's feet out from underneath him. Norway fell hard to the floor as the Dane leaned to help Finland up as Sweden and Iceland appeared from the next level up in the large house. "What happened?" Emil asked while stroking the puffin on his shoulder while glancing at the blood staining the floor in the child's room. He didn't seem as worried as he should have been, then again he didn't find anything wrong with Norway's punishments and neither did Sweden for that matter.

See, Sweden and Iceland didn't see the problem in Norway's way of discipline. They felt it was good for both Annabelle and him. (Well, actually, they didn't care, as long as it wasn't them.) So instead they decided to help him along and punished her as well if they felt like it was needed.

Norway scowled seeing both of them and his violet eyes flashed violently as he struggled to get to his feet. He couldn't believe that Denmark and Finland had made such a bold move towards him. "Make sure these two don't follow me and intervene, I have to go deal with my sorry excuse for a daughter," he hissed, his voice low and dangerous as he clomped out of the room.

Ann reached for the door knob, anxious to get out of this hell. If she stayed here, she knew she wouldn't survive the next day. Her mind raced to find any other solution to the problem she was facing, any way to make her papa not so mad at her. What way could she get his forgiveness? Beg? Plead with him to have mercy on her? She wasn't sure if that would work even. She tugged on the cold knob as tears of desperation trickled down her cheeks mixed with the ones from her pain.

If she had the time, she probably would have continued trying to pry the door open. But then she heard the familiar heavy footsteps of her father stomping down the stairs. Her eyes widened with fear and she sprinted to the kitchen as fast as she could managed. There was a small cupboard that was almost empty now, small enough for a little girl like her to fit in but not so big an adult could get in either. She opened the wooden door and crawled inside, closing the door behind her.

Lukas reached the bottom step and his narrowed eyes scanned the living room, there was no sight of the imp. His anger was beyond containable now, first she goes and complains about her punishments to her uncles then she runs off and tries to hide from a punishment that he had already been in the process of administrating. He had warned her about that plenty and this was the absolute last straw for him. He was going to make sure that little brat learned her place if it was the last thing he ever did.

Ann whimpered as she heard him reach the end of the stairs and scooted back until she felt the wooden back wall of the small space, she had to stay quiet or her papa would find her. If he found her… no… she couldn't let that happen. This was much more than just a, "you-forgot-a-chore" punishment, or a "don't-talk-back" punishment, this was pure rage directed at her specifically.

Norway looked behind the couch, nope. He stood straightening his back; she couldn't have gotten outside since the doors were locked. She was somewhere in this house… but where was the question. He strode into the kitchen when he saw a couple drops of blood on the floor. Smiling in triumph to himself, he turned serious and started looking through the bottom cabinets under the sink.

Antarctica froze as she heard rubber soles clicking on the tiled floor, he had entered the kitchen. She pulled her knees to her chest eyes wide with terror as the sound grew louder and louder as he got closer to her hiding spot and the sound of cupboard doors being slammed open one by one. She struggled to keep calm, to keep herself from sprinting out of there and back to the sanctuary of her uncles' presence. But deep inside she knew if she tried to escape now he would catch her and finish the punishment he had started.

Lukas came to the last cupboard on the wall, she had to be in there. Oh when he got her out, he was going to make her pay, that he vowed to himself. He grasped the handle, almost breaking it in the process and yanking open the door. Ann squeaked as the door flung open and her eyes widened with fear as she saw her father's angry face. He reached his arm in to snatch her but she squirmed back as far as she could, shrinking away from his hands and tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Come here, you worthless excuse for a child! I'm not done with you yet!" he screamed as the child backed away from him, away from what she deserved. She should know better than to run away from him. She should know better than to hide. What was going on through that puny little mind of hers? He was going to show her something she should want to run away from. After this, she wouldn't want to run from her punishment, ever again, because she will understand how bad it will become.

"P-please! Leave m-me alone! I didn't-"

"SILENCE! Do NOT interrupt me!" he reached in all the way and dragged her out of the small cabinet slapping her hard across the face. She closed her eyes as she dug her heels into the floor even though she knew the effort was a waste, now becoming unaware of her surroundings. All she felt was all the pain afflicted towards her. She was too scared and too focused on the pain. Before she realized it, she was being slammed into the tiles of the kitchen floor. The bruises and welts from the episode upstairs were stinging in horrific pain, more to focus on.

In a blinded rage, Norway grabbed a knife from the counter. "Annabelle, I told you MANY TIMES not to interrupt. I told you MANY TIMES to do what you are told. I told you how to do things, yet you still fail to accomplish these little tasks." He noticed she wasn't making eye contact, and he reached down to grab her face and pull it towards his. "AND I'VE TOLD YOU MANY TIMES TO LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM SPEAKING TO YOU! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS _LISTEN_! Why is that so hard to understand?!"

Ann, still confused as to what she had even done this time to have her father so enraged, was now mad herself. Before she knew what exactly she was doing, she summoned every ounce of courage she had and looked him right in the eyes her own blue ones sparking with some sort of defiance. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!" she yelled when close to his face. His eyes turned dark, his face turned red, and she immediately regretted raising her voice at him. She felt herself trembling violently but yet she was frozen under his immense and piercing glare.

"What did you say to me?! Didn't do anything wrong?! You little brat!" he raised the knife, turning Antarctica over so her back was facing him, "I'll show you wrong!" With that, he brought the knife down against her skin in a downward motion, slicing into the flesh. A river of crimson started to form, becoming wider and deeper by the second. Ann screamed out, mostly in horror, for the pain was unreal, and she was actually terrified of death in this moment. The cut had started at her left shoulder blade and made a ragged diagonal line going down to her spine. She saw all the times he had struck her in the past, she saw all the times he had sent her away with no food, no comfort, no anything. She saw the many times he had yelled at her for what he had perceived was wrongdoing. It was then, she realized, she wouldn't care if she died in that moment. No one else would, either.

At the last moment Lukas realized what exactly he was doing. He shuffled backwards, away from his cringing, crying, bloody baby girl. He huddled over her, his hands unable to cooperate as he shook. How could he do this? What had he done? A few slaps were okay, a kick was acceptable, even the belt was workable in certain situations, but CUTTING her? His own little girl he had raised and loved all these years? "N-no… oh Annabelle…" he whispered touching her softly, "Papa didn't mean to hurt you baby… oh dear… i-it's going to be okay darling I promise… shh…" Before he knew it he was wrapping his shirt around the wound, picking her up, and taking her out into the living room cradling her close against his chest. Denmark and Finland ran down the stairs and towards him with Sweden and Iceland following behind them.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU CRAZY IMBECILE!" Tino screamed, his eyes wide and taking in what happened. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR OWN DAUGHTER?!" Mathias, on the other hand, was speechless. He saw his niece lying there, almost asleep, in Norway's hands. He was bewildered, to say the least.

The two decided right then something had to be done about this behavior. There was no questioning or hesitation anymore. That wasn't really an option in this situation. If Ann continued living in this house, she wasn't going to live very long. This was too dangerous for a small girl like her. They both knew that if Antarctica hadn't been a country she would have died from her wounds a long time ago. "We could always leave her with the fat one and the sophisticated one? You know… England and America right?" Finland whispered so Lukas didn't overhear them.

Denmark nodded slowly, glancing over at Norway bandaging up Antarctica's back the best he could at the moment. He noticed tears streaming down Lukas' own cheeks making the Danish man's stomach churn. Norway did love Ann with all his heart in reality, he didn't mean to hurt her like that. Yes he was harsh at many times, but that didn't mean he didn't care for her deep down inside. "We'll have to wait at least a week or two… then her wound will be somewhat healed."

Every time Ann went back to her memories the exact same song played in her mind over and over. A "Simple Plan" song actually and it almost made her cry every single time.

Annabelle laid in her bed now gazing up at the ceiling, her body ached from today's abuse. Uncle Iceland threw a fit when she was cleaning with bleach and his puffin accidently knocked over the container dumping it all over the poor bird. Emil had thrown her against a wall screaming at how much of a failure she was. Sweden had also ended up punishing for her forgetting to dust the living room and clean the dishes. That had resulted in her getting beat with his belt for a good ten minutes.

But that was normal now. As a six-year-old she had grown use to all of the pain radiating through each of her limbs day after day leaving her scarred mentally and physically. After a while, she learned to shut everything out. Turn out the lights, close the doors. Isolate herself from the pain so she doesn't have to feel it anymore. This only worked for the physical pain, because mentally she was torn apart and broken up.

She remembered before the abuse, when everything was okay, and when she was actually happy. She felt that was when her father was happy, too. She missed this time, because she felt she was actually close to Norway. She missed this time, the time where she could sit in her father's lap as he told her stories and how much he loved her. But the time has changed, and she was certain she wasn't going to get this time back. After he had hurt her with the knife there was an entire month where he went without punishing her and acted like the old papa she used to know in her heart. He had held her close, played with her, made her breakfast, tucked her in every night kissing her forehead softly, and it felt like old times, but it didn't last long enough for her. She was soon to be sent off, forgotten by the Nordics.

She curled up under her covers turning her gaze to a wall instead. All she wanted was for the pain to end, it hurt too much to bear sometimes. It wasn't fair, what had she ever done to deserve any of this agony? What had she done to be treated like this? Denmark and Finland at least cared about her wellbeing all the time, not just after a harsh punishment.

Honestly though, she didn't know how long she would be able to go on. She didn't know how long it would be before one of her uncles or papa took it one step to far and she would fall to the floor and never get back up. She would be another forgotten country. A lost soul of another child the world forgot.

But maybe that would end up being a blessing. Not just for everyone else, but she also wouldn't care if she fell of the Earth.

She felt the wheels in her mind turning. If she died… all of her pain would go away along with everyone else's! Papa wouldn't have to hate her anymore, uncle Sweden wouldn't have to scowl at her all the time, and uncle Iceland could let his puffin loose in the house. She would be doing everyone a favor.

"But uncle Denmark and uncle Finland wouldn't let me," she mumble to herself out loud crestfallen, "They would end up stopping me."

'Only if they knew about it,' one voice whispered in the back of her mind, 'They can't stop you if you don't tell them.'

That sparked an idea. Yes! She could do it without them knowing! She climbed out of bed and creaked open her door so a sliver of the hallway came into view. The coast was clear.

She slipped out and closed the door slowly behind her. Then after taking one last quick peek she tip toed across the hard wood floor and fled down the stairs trying not to make a single noise.

She finally made it to the kitchen and she saw the knives Finland always used to chop up vegetables, or when her papa was really mad. She flinched, remembering it cut into her back and her hand went to the still healing wound.

Reaching up she attempted to retrieve the weapon. Luckily her fingers managed to wrap around the hilt and she pulled it down.

She stared at the object she held in her hands. She felt powerful almost, like she had the ability to decide life and death. Which really, she did.

The cold metal gleamed in the pale light the moon cast from the kitchen window displaying her reflection. A face full of pain, bruises, scars, and burns. The face of a girl with no definition of hope anymore. It was horrible and she felt like breaking down crying, but she didn't have time for that. At any moment someone should come down those stairs and see her then she would never have any other chance.

She held it over her chest, right in the center. Just as she prepared to stab it through her heart racing in anticipation, "Annabelle?"

She let out a yelp and glanced over at the staircase. Uncle Finland stood on the top step and stared down at her with a quizzical expression. "Annabelle what are you doing? Especially at this time of night. You should be in bed." He'd noticed a shiny object, but wasn't certain what it was, and wasn't really concerned.

Her breathing increased rapidly and she hid the knife behind her back quickly staring at the Finnish man. She hoped he hadn't noticed the small knife. "Oh… Uncle Finland... Hi…" she stuttered.

"Ann…" he came down the steps slowly stopping in front of her and eyes full of worry as he knelt down so they were level, "What's that you're hiding?" She swallowed hard and took a step back away from him. She knew she had been caught but that didn't stop her from trying to cover everything up.

"O-oh… this? N-nothing…"

He knelt down and grabbed her arms gently but forcing her to show her hands to him. The minute he saw the glinting of the blade his expression softened with understanding. He had guessed in his mind, but didn't expect her to really do it. "Oh Annabelle…" he sighed and pulled her in for a hug.

She let out a small gasp of surprise and dropped the knife. As it clattered to the floor she felt small drops of liquid hit her shoulder and when she looked up at Uncle Tino she realized it were his tears. "F-Finland..?" She wasn't sure if he legitimately cared or was trying to make it seem like he did.

He held her shoulders so he could see her and he smiled weakly. He stared into her big blue eyes, looking for some sign of relief. He wanted to be able to help her, but wasn't exactly sure what the problem was. He was just glad she didn't do anything. "Guess I got her in the nick of time, aye?"

She stared at her shoes head hanging in remorse. She didn't mean to make him cry, she didn't want him to find out. She hated seeing them hurting like that because of her decisions. It wasn't fair for either of her uncles. "I-I'm sorry…" she whimpered a tear of her own sliding down her cheek.

The Finnish man sighed and wiped it away with his thumb tilting her head back up so she was looking into his eyes. He wasn't angry from the looks of his expression, just heartbroken. "Antarctica… why were you going to do this? You do realize once you end a life, there is no way to bring it back right? It's a permanent decision."

Biting her lip she nodded slowly her little hands clenching into fists as she fought the urge to cry again. Tino scooped her up in his arms and stood up. "Don't worry, tonight will be the last night you have to deal with this pain."

"What do you mean?" she asked as he started to walk to the door. He smiled down at her, but it was a sad one. He didn't want to have to let her go, to have to separate Norway from his daughter, but it was the best for her. As long as she was safe, he was happy. She would be a lot happier, and would be able to enjoy her life to its fullest.

"Uncle Denmark is already in the car, we're taking you far from here Ann. Somewhere you'll finally be safe. We're going to make sure you'll be in a house with a nice family that loves you." That confused her, what did he mean? Was he taking her away? Were they running away? Were they coming with her? What about her papa and other uncles? Were they coming too?

That was when she knew, she was getting saved. No more pain from her papa or uncles any more. She remembered falling asleep as Tino carried her to the car and Denmark kissing her forehead softly. She woke up on a cement porch and heard a door open. She pivoted herself around, looking first into a pair of green eyes, and then noticed behind him was another man with what seemed to be a cheeseburger in his mouth. "What's this?" he said, his mouth full of food as he spoke.

'Why would they care?' she thought, not completely understanding who they were or why she was here. Where were Tino and Mathias? Why was she left here alone? Why were these guys staring at her? They both looked kind of weird, but as she looked up she saw the house was beyond huge, like a castle almost. They didn't look angry, or mean. Just a little bit curious. And one seemed to have 6 eyebrows, while the other one had a weird looking cowlick sticking straight up.

The one she spotted first picked her up and looked around before stepping inside, starting Annabelle's life over as she knew it. The door closed behind him, shutting away her old life and bringing her a new one. "It's okay love," the man whispered with a thick but soft British accent, "There's no need to be afraid here darling. I don't know where you came from but here you're safe now."

_Cause I'm just a kid tonight._


	5. Chapter 5: Home

Megan paused for a long moment before shifting her attention back to Ann. She couldn't even imagine what pain Antarctica must have been through, fighting just to survive ever day of her childhood. She would have never guess that this smiling blonde could be so depressed. "Do... Do you want to come h-home with me and see them?"

Antarctica sat straight up her eyes wide, was she serious? Was she really going to help her see her family again? Deep inside her she knew her father loved her, he showed it without knowing it sometimes. Her uncles had to care too, they couldn't have forgotten her already. It had been over a hundred years but still… didn't they miss her? "R-really?" she grinned, "You would do that for me?"

A smile spread across the brunette's features. This was the Ann she knew, the perky, happy-go-lucky, sarcastic Ann. "O-Of course I would. Though I can't promise I'll be able to refrain from attempting to murder them-"

Out of nowhere Annabelle found herself tackling her new friend with an America-worthy hug before giving Meg a chance to even finish her sentence. She had never had another student, and she would probably never find a way to repay her for this. "Oh thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" she squealed.

Megan laughed, hugging her tightly back. It had surprised her, but she wasn't going to drench Ann's hopes. "There's no need to thank me."

The blonde's smile faded as she released, she had forgotten one little issue. Okay, it was a BIG issue that she had accidently overlooked through all of this. There was no way her brothers were going to let her even get anywhere near her old family. They were way too overprotective and would be scared of her getting hurt by them all over again. Especially Arthur, he was the one who had always bathed her when she was younger and he had seen every single scar, burn, bruise, and cut. "One problem... England and America will never let me go."

Megan frowned her eye brows furrowing in some sort of thought process or concentration method and crossed her arms thinking to herself for a few moments. "Hmm... I think distractions/blackmail/persuasion methods are needed."

"Which do you recommend?" Ann asked. But she had already known in her head what was going to work for them. She had lived with the two for over a hundred years, she knew them pretty well.

Megan shrugged, she didn't know them as well really if at all. Germany was truly right, there was a difference between knowing of people and knowing them personally. "I don't know actually... I'm not very good with blackmail... But which do you think would work on your brothers the best? In general of course."

"I think distractions definitely," Antarctica answered automatically. If there was anything that were those two weaknesses was that they both were extremely gullible. Especially since England did believe in fairies and all that magic crap. That's what happens when you read too much Harry Potter and Peter Pan she guessed. In her opinion if someone gave them a walnut and told them that if they ran across the length of the world five times then it would turn into Excalibur they would have already been sprinting.

Megan smiled. "What kind of distractions?"

"Well..." Annabelle tapped her chin in deep-thought before she smirked evilly, "We could tell America all McDonald's is free in Japan for today only. That will keep him busy for a while since all his maps are maps of America and he still can't figure out England's GPS since it drives on the wrong side of the road. And then we can have convince England to believe America's really going after Flying Mint Bunny instead."

The brunette bit her lip and looked actually guilty to Ann's surprise. "I'm ashamed to say that I really like the way you think." She smiled.

Antarctica laughed, mostly in disbelief that this little shy girl would actually not be fazed by her scheming. What most people at her school didn't know was that instead of a smiling perky girl she was actually a snarky, sarcastic, rebellious, hot-tempered, arrogant, teenage girl that was honestly not the happiest person in the world exactly. "Well get used to it, I can be a devil when needed," she said with a grin.

Meg joined in her laughter. "Good. However I have to admit that I infinitely fail at being a devil because my conscience hates me."

After a good minute Ann finally stopped laughing and crept out of her room to check downstairs first. "Come on," her blue eyes flashed like they always did when she was about to do something either really awesome that was going to turn out great or something really stupid that was going to get her in trouble, "Let's do this thing."

Glancing at the hall Megan nodded determinedly, peeking her head around the door to glance downstairs and saw that America was watching TV on the couch. His feet were kicked up and resting on the coffee table (or tea table apparently according to England) and one arm rested behind his head as he drank a chocolate shake. Alfred's diet wasn't the honestly the healthiest at times, but Ann enjoyed it when Arthur was offering his meals.

Meg whispered to Antarctica. "Do you want to do Alfred and I'll get Arthur, or do you want to get Arthur and I'll get Alfred? Or do you want us both to get them both?"

"I'll get America since England won't believe me." It was true, she had a streak of pranking the unsuspecting Brit over the years. She did all sort of things from drawing on his face when he was taking a nap on the couch, to switching his tea out with Kool-Aid. Even though she always got in trouble for it, she always loved seeing his reactions. About four years back he had finally figured out how to get past every single one of her tricks and lies ruining her fun in the process.

Megan gave a single nod, guessing that the Englishman probably wouldn't believe her anyway after the little converse downstairs. "Alright..."

Annabelle dashed downstairs and tapped America on the shoulder softly. "Hey Alfie guess what? In Japan all McDonald's is free!" She hope she sounded as convincing as she needed to be. She didn't want this plan to fall through. But then again, America is quite easy to trick.

He turned around eyes wide. He could not hold in his excitement. The only thing going through his head was 'OH MY FREAKING GOD FREE MCDONALDS! THAT'S MCDONALDS AND FREE IN ONE SENTENCE! WOW MCDONALDS!' "Dude, really?!" he dashed out the door, already planning his trip to Japan in his head, "See ya later!"

Megan peeked around the door, releasing a small laugh at the spectacle. "Oh poor Alfred." She grinned.

Antarctica shrugged, she was used to pranking him as well. She felt accomplished anyhow, and was mentally preparing herself for the next one. She grinned back at the Brunette. "Your turn! But remember, he's actually kind of smart, so be aware!"

"Alright." Megan smiled brightly back and followed her sense of smell (there was the stench of burning in the air) to the kitchen, and spotted Arthur. "M-Mr. Kirkland!" She ran up to him, slipping a panicked look on her face.

England turned around and raised an eyebrow putting a hand on his hip but still trying to put the small fire out with his other hand. "What is it?"

"Alfred's after Flying Mint Bunny! H-he got angry with him because he told him he ate too much..." She fidgeted, looking up at the Brit with big eyes.

His eyes widened and he dropped the spoon he was using to cook with. "W-what?!" he shrieked, "Where is he going?!" That uneducated brick was going to hurt his poor little friend, and he'd never be able to forgive him for that.

"J-Japan!" She bit her lip. "P-please hurry Mr. K-Kirkland!"

He didn't even let her finish before running out the door slamming it shut behind him. There was a few moments of silence until Antarctica started laughing hysterically. "Oh that was good!"

"I mean I feel pretty bad, but it was very funny," Megan giggled, allowing a smile to brave across her features, cleaning her glasses with her jumper.

She continued to smile. "Come on let's go!" she practically skipped out the door, "I can't wait to see everyone! I mean it's been forever since I've heard Denmark's signature cackle!" Honestly she was very excited, but she was terrified of what their reaction would be. Would they be surprised? Happy? Mad? Would her father even recognize her? She had so many questions, so little time.

Megan groaned, smiling though to herself somewhat. "It hasn't been long enough since I heard it."

Annabelle clapped her hands. "And hug Finland again!" her eyes started to fill with tears, "I miss them so much."

Megan smiled slightly, giving Antarctica her best 'Tino hug'. "Well, you don't need to miss them any longer."

She smiled brightly. "Yeah!" she continued walking and saw the familiar house come into view, "There it is!" All of a sudden, a song popped in her head perfect for the moment. She started playing the Daughtry song in her mind, Home.

Megan smiled brighter, then looked over at Antarctica. "...Does this mean I'm your aunt?"

Pondering that Ann blinked coming to a slow stop, she hadn't even though about that really. "I guess it does..." she finally said glancing back at her. Now she had her best friend that was her aunt.

"Huh..." Her smile widened. "That's...cool I guess." She giggled slightly. "If a little strange."

She nodded, thinking about how different it would be when she arrived. They didn't really talk the rest of the way, just left each other thinking about this new information coming at them. Before long she found herself on the driveway of the house. It had the same three floors, the same brown walls covered with ivy on the side, the same wooden black door, the same stark white porch with chipped paint, and the same steel mailbox with a recognizable small blue handprint. She touched it gingerly, smiling softly as she remember the moment.

_"__Papa!" Ann yelled racing towards him. Norway glanced up as he finished hammering the wooden stake into the ground._

_ "__Hello darling," he knelt down kissing her forehead making her giggle, "What do you need?" He held her with one arm as he sanded off the rough edges of the wood and gave it a quick polish. Annabelle stared, eyes sparkling as she watched and sat down on his bent knee bouncing with excitement._

_ "__Whatcha doin'?" she asked as he got some paint. He smiled heading over to the garage where his workshop was. A small metal box with a curved top sat on the bench and she looked at it curiously._

_ "__I'm making us a mailbox Annie," he opened it showing her the inside, "If someone sends us a letter or something like that they can drop it off in here. You remember the nice man who always come to give us mail, right?" She nodded vigorously as her curls bounced, she had always watched the man come to give her papa or one of her uncles something every day._

She smiled softly to herself as she continued thinking about the memory. It was one she had held close to her heart over the years.

She always loved the thoughts from her three-year-old memories, they lightened her spirits every time.

_"__Can I help papa?" she asked looking up at him with big blue eyes. Lukas smiled softly and kissed her cheek sitting down and placing her in his lap._

_"__Of course babyen," he set down the paints in front of her and a brush, "You can help me make it prettier. Silver is beautiful, but it needs something more. Got any ideas?" She nodded and took the paintbrush dipping it immediately in the green, starting to paint some grass on the bottom of the mailbox. Norway took a paintbrush as well, painting some flowers on the flag._

_She continued painting, adding butterflies and Norway delicately painted "Nordics' Household" on the side. She looked at it and frowned. "It's missing something… I know!" she took some of the blue paint and poured it on her hand. He opened his mouth to protest but she then pressed her hand right next to the words. He blinked, slightly startled as she took it away leaving a small blue handprint._

Ann smiled, looking away from the mailbox and her eyes venturing the property. Not much had really changed, there was still the tall sycamore she had always tried to climb.

She would end up trying to show how big she was, and found herself getting stuck up there. One time Sweden had to help her down.

_"__Uncle Sweden I'm scared!" she cried clutching the trunk her eyes squeezed shut so she didn't have to see how far she was from the ground. Berwald stared up at her straightening his glasses and held his arms out. He was used to her climbing the trees, but this was the first time she desperately needed help getting down._

_ "__Annabelle you don't need to be, I'll catch you!" he called and she opened one eye slowly as she shook violently. She hadn't meant to get stuck, but when she was climbing she reached a branch that didn't have one close enough for her to reach. When that happened she tried to get down but was frozen in terror the second she saw just how high she was and refused to step one foot off the branch for fear of falling._

_ "__What if you end up missing? I don't want to fall!" she sobbed burying her face in the crook of her arm probably furthering ruining her bright blue long-sleeved dress. He sighed, trying to figure out a way to convince the little girl that she wasn't going to fall. Then, an idea emerged. _

_ "__If you do this, I'll make you some hot cocoa," he said using the calmest voice he could muster. Antarctica froze, hot cocoa? If she had one fatal weakness it was for hot cocoa. Even if it was in the middle of summer she would find herself asking for some. Call it an obsession, but she was the coldest place in the world._

_ "__R-real cocoa? W-with m-milk and everything?" she asked quietly. Berwald smiled slightly and nodded, he had her hooked now._

_ "__And marshmallows!" he added seeing her face light up with joy. She bit her lip, opening both eyes and looked down at him. His arms were wide open and he was squarely below her ready to catch her._

_ "__Come on, do you trust me?" he asked tilting his head to the side. She nodded slowly and even though she was trembling, she let go of the trunk one arm at a time. He clapped encouragingly._

_ "__Yes! You got it! Don't stop now! Just a few steps… yes don't worry I'm here to catch you! Yes... now jump!" he exclaimed as she moved down the branch. She swallowed hard and without taking another moment of hesitation she jumped down into his arms. He held her close, kissing the top her head softly. "Good job darling…"_

She always loved her uncles, Sweden was a quiet closed off person but really he had cared for her.

Megan walked slightly in front of her to the front door, the key poised in her hand ready to unlock the door. "Oh God, I just realized Tino's gonna kill me...I didn't tell him where I was going..."

She smiled slightly, she knew what it was like. After leaving the house so many times and forgetting to ask for permission or leave a note she was always yelled at and grounded for a week at the least. "Well England and America are going to kill me once they realize I came here so we can get killed together!"

"Yay!" She laughed. "You ready?" She became solemn, tilting her head slightly in Antarctica's direction. She looked around once more, taking in the outside of the house she was raised in. She wasn't exactly sure if after this visit, she would want to come back. She wasn't sure if she'd ever see the house again.

Taking a deep breath Ann bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Y-yeah..." she let a small smile adorn her lips, "Ready as I'll ever be." She figured she couldn't have prepared herself enough for this very moment, so she just associated herself behind Megan and hid as much as she possibly could.

Megan patted her shoulder in reassurance and pushed the door open slowly peeking inside. "Tino?"

As the door unlocked Finland stood up from the couch. "Megan! Where-" he then saw Antarctica and his eyes widened, "A-Annie?" He stared at her, trying to make sense of the little girl that wasn't so little anymore at his doorstep.

'Okay Ann,' she thought as she smiled, 'this is it.' She wasn't sure what to say at first. What do you say to your uncle that sent you away for your own good, the one that you haven't seen since you were six? Instead of trying to come up with something, she went with, "Hi Uncle Finland."

Finland stood, frozen and seemingly shell-shocked. This didn't seem real, no way could she be here, in this house. Was it really his little Annabelle? It couldn't be real, she couldn't have come back. She was now almost as tall as him, her curls were much fuller, she had more of her ah… "Women assets" and her eyes were even brighter than before. She was grown up. He bounded forward and encased Antarctica in a tight hug. "Ann!"

She let out a small squeak and hugged him back a few tears escaping, he actually had missed her all this time? She thought maybe she wouldn't even be recognizable, people do change quite a bit after over 100 years even if they are immortal countries. "I-I missed you so much!" She felt him pull her even closer as the tears brimmed at her eyelids.

His body shook as he openly sobbed into her shoulder. "W-we missed y-you t-too! I n-never thought I-I would see you a-again!" He didn't want to let go.

She sobbed along with him. "M-me either..." She stood there, engulfed in his embrace, happier than she had felt in a long time.

"What's going on?!" a Swedish voice yelled making everyone jump.

Tino quivered at the voice, and tried to reply but found himself unable to. Megan whimpered, shaking. "N-Nothing, B-big B-Brother!"

Sweden came downstairs and he looked slightly irritated. "What is with all of the yel-?" Then his eyes landed on who Finland was hugging, his expression softening. "No way..." She let go of Finland and turned to him smiling.

"Hello."

Megan swallowed audibly, gripping her brother's arm and trembling violently. Sweden stared at Antarctica, unmoving, disbelief seeping into his usually hard eyes. She was definitely bigger, grown up. She had a sadness in her eyes, even though she looked bubbly and excited. It was different than seeing her screaming in pain or crying herself to sleep every single night and hearing her wails of agony.

Ann broke the tension by tackling him with a hug almost knocking him over in the process even though she was a great deal smaller than him. "I missed you," she mumbled into his shoulder. He blinked as if registering what was happening before hugging her back.

"I missed you as well..." He tried to stop the memories from flowing in, but he had no control of it anymore. He saw her as a small child…

_"__Get off the floor!" Sweden yelled, kicking Antarctica's side. She was just lying there, the worthless brat. After countless reminders, she had still failed to remember to clean the downstairs again. No way could this just slide by. She whimpered, trying to lift herself from the cold tiled floor._

_"__B-but..."_

_"__GET UP!" He kicked her down again, looking at her in disgust. "You are such a disgrace to this family." With that, he unbuckled his belt ignoring her as she burst into tears and begged for mercy, her babbling barely even audible anyway, and brought it back, swinging it down towards her back…_

"I remember when you were just a tiny little country…" Berwald whispered. Megan's face broke out into a smile as tears rushed down her cheeks, the two were making up at least after all of that. Sweden wrapped his arms around Antarctica, a tear straying down his face. "I'm so sorry..."

She sniffled tears streaming down her cheeks freely. "I know you never meant to hurt me," she buried her face into his shoulder again, "I never held it against you."

"B-But I still d-did it," he choked. "I don't deserve forgiveness."

"I don't care if you think you deserve it or not," she sniffled and looked up at him, "I'm forgiving you whether you like it or not."

He stared back at her, another tear rolling down his cheek. He realized how much she had actually grown up, he had never expected her to forgive him for all the horrible things he had done. Not just hurting her physically, but mentally with the words he said. The screaming, the insults, and every single thing he said had just tore her down more and more. "T-Thank you, A-Ann..."

She smiled and hugged him one last time before letting go hesitantly, afraid she might lose the moment if she did. A certain Dane peeked down the stairs, hearing the crying from upstairs and becoming curious. "What's going on?"

"Ann's back," Tino said simply, not knowing what else to really say. Matthias immediately leapt down the stairs in record speed and grabbed Antarctica, swinging her around and hugging her closely.

"ANNIE!" he shrieked lifting her high in the air. She was slightly heavier than from being a six-year-old but still couldn't be more than 85 pounds. It unsettled him, but he really didn't think much about it at the moment.

She laughed and wrapped her arms around him. "I missed you sooo much!" he squealed still spinning.

"I missed you too!" she smiled crying some more and clutching his shoulder.

"Denmark can you please be quiet!" Iceland snapped coming downstairs. He couldn't imagine something that could get him so excited.

"HECK NAH!" Denmark replied, still squeezing Ann and hugging her tightly. He refused to let her go.

"Emil, we would appreciate it if you dropped the 'I'm a jerk' attitude," Megan glared. She had never so much as talked back to any of her brothers, but if there was any time to start it was now.

He glared at her, wondering where she got that attitude, then noticed a figure behind Denmark. "What the heck..." Antarctica stepped aside and waved.

"H-hi Iceland."

"Antarctica." Iceland blinked. "W-What..." he regained his composure, "what are you doing here?" It had been forever since he last saw her, and her presence was almost daunting. He was completely baffled by her mere existence.

She smiled. "I came to say hi to my family," she wrapped her arms around him in a hug as well, "I missed you."

"I-I..." he stuttered. "I-I...m-missed you too..." He hugged her, awkwardly, but still sincerely. He remembered the last time he saw her, when she dumped bleach on his poor beloved puffin. His arm ran over a scar, one that he had caused…

_"__ANNABELLE?! Where is he?!" Iceland yelled from the kitchen. Ann, who had sweeping the front hall, peeked into the kitchen._

_"__W-what are y-you talking about u-uncle I-Iceland?" she asked nervously, she could tell he was mad but couldn't understand what he could ever be mad about. There was nothing she had done today that could have made him so angry,_

_"__My puffin! Where is he?!" He had looked all over the house, but to no avail. It had to have been her, she was always interested in his beautiful bird. Sure all five-year-olds were curious at their age, but that was no excuse. She had already let it loose outside once and he had to sit on the porch calling for it for over an hour. That episode had not ended well for her at all since she was not only punished by him but Norway as well. He thought she would have learned but apparently not._

_"__I… I don't know," she whimpered, scared of what he was going to do if he didn't believe her. _

_"__Don't give me that crap, Annabelle." He grabbed her arm with excessive force, pulling her towards his direction. She dug her heels into the floor and squirmed in a desperate attempt to break free of his iron grasp._

_"__Uncle Emil, please, in all honesty, I have no idea where your stupid bird is!" she argued but immediately regretted her choice of words when she saw his eyes flash._

_"__My WHAT bird? DON'T YOU DARE CALL MY PUFFIN STUPID! It's smarter than you will ever be! Do not dis him!" He yanked Ann's arm and pushed it onto the oven burner. He didn't know it was actually turned on until she let out a horrid screech of terror. Even though he was shocked it was actually on, he didn't let her arm go. She needed to learn what happened to little girls who lied._

_Ann felt like she was going to pass out, the pain was unreal. She tried focusing on something else, but this feeling overwhelmed her body, washing over and drowning her like a bunch of waves. Finally, after Iceland couldn't stand the heat himself, he let her go. As she fell to the ground holding back her sobs, he glared down at her. "Next time you lie like that this punishment will seem mundane!"_

He cringed at the memory, wondering if that's the memory she had of him all this time. Antarctica smiled slightly, running her fingers through his hair. His puffin made a small noise making her smile widen even more. "You haven't changed a bit have you? Always soft spoken to the end, huh?"

Megan snorted. "He never has." She smiled slightly. "Why would he?"

Ann knew he felt guilty by just looking at his solemn expression, but she didn't want him to think like that. She did forgive him, and she was ready to forget everything he had done to hurt her.

Everyone laughed until the sound of footsteps sounded through the front room signaling someone was coming down the stairs, footsteps that Antarctica recognized immediately. They were the same footsteps that chased her through this house as she was running away from the pain she knew he would cause, the ones she had feared all of her childhood, the ones that always been followed with her being punished for something she had done wrong in his eyes.

"What the heck guys?!" the beyond familiar Norwegian accented voice yelled as someone came into the front room, "What's with all the commotion down here?!" Ann's heart rate increased, and she wanted to begin hyperventilating. She managed to stifle a gasp her eyes widening, he was coming down here. The same fear that had struck her always shot through her heart causing her to whimper. Megan's eyes narrowed and everyone else fell silent, Norway was here.

_I'm going home._


	6. Chapter 6: The Last Night

Norway raised an eyebrow as he continued down the steps and entered the front room where everyone was gathered. "What's the prob-" then he saw Antarctica, "A-Annabelle..?"

She nodded tears streaming down her cheeks, he didn't change much over the years except as he looked at her his eyes were filled with his own pain. "H-hi papa." He stood there processing, then broke down sobbing falling to his knees and wailing into his hands.

Her awkwardness quickly disappearing, Annabelle panicked and skidded on her knees down beside the hysteric Norwegian and pulled him into a hug, tears gushing even more. Just seeing him cry made her break down, it wasn't real and it had been very few time she had seen him cry.

Norway looked up at Antarctica as she kneeled down in front of him. This didn't even seem like it was possible, she was sitting in front of him. "W-what are you doing h-here?" he whimpered between sobs.

She hugged him again tears rolling down rapidly. "I-I needed my papa!"

Norway only cried harder at this and started apologizing profusely, his words barely even coherent. He could still remember his reaction when he had gone to wake her up that morning…

_Lukas woke up in a rather pleasant mood, he was happy for once and found the world much brighter. He wanted to show Antarctica an apology for yesterday's events by making her a wonderful Norwegian breakfast. He got out of bed, covering himself with his robe before heading downstairs._

_He whipped something up, something simple that she would still like with her picky child taste. He headed upstairs to Ann's room. Respecting her privacy he knocked first in case she was awake already. "Annie? Papa's really, really sorry about yesterday, I made breakfast. We can eat together if you would like and I have some other fun stuff planned for today," he waited a few seconds before opening the door, "Annabe-" he started but froze when he saw the empty room._

_Her bed covers were askew, not a thing had been touched recently, and she was nowhere in sight. His stomach dropped and he fell to his knees, no. She couldn't be gone, she had to be here somewhere. "ANTARCTICA!" he screamed at the ceiling as if it would have the answer to who took his baby girl. Everyone ran in, startled by the loud noise._

_"__W-what happened?" Iceland asked rubbing sleep out of his eyes then stared at the sobbing Nordic, "N-Norway?!" Lukas didn't even hear them come in as he held his head in his hands, wailing over his loss. He didn't even get to apologize, and now she was gone. His precious little girl was lost, and he was probably never going to see her ever again. Denmark and Finland stiffened, but no one else noticed their guilty expressions…_

Antarctica hugged him tighter, feeling guilty about leaving him like that. She had never thought about his reaction or how he would feel if she had left him like that. She didn't know he would feel so bad about everything, she thought he might have been okay with all of it since all she did was disappoint him. "It's okay," she whispered crying slightly still, "Everything's okay… I forgive you..."

"It's not okay! I'm so sorry Ann... I'm so sorry... you didn't deserve anything I had done to you!" he sobbed. He trembled and hugged her back tightly. He didn't deserve for her to forgive him, he didn't deserve to see her again, and he definitely didn't deserve a second chance with her. He had hurt her so much, abusing her beyond what any person much less child should have to bear.

She rested her chin on his shoulder her face wet with tears. "I know you're sorry," she whispered, unable to bear his cries of self-deprivation, "I said I forgive you."

He mumbled his thanks, choking over his words and burying her face in his shoulder as he clutched her closer to himself. "I-I l-love y-you min d-datter..."

She started to cry openly all over again, clutching him like a child and tears soon soaked the shoulder of his shirt. She used to think crying was a sin, but maybe it was a good thing at times. It showed that you cared about the person you were crying over, and it was a part of human nature anyway. "I-I love you too papa!"

He rocked her gently, sniffling, and started to shakily hum an old lullaby he used to sing to her when she was a baby. "I remember that song..." Antarctica whispered as she whimpered and held on to him tightly. She was afraid if she let go she would lose this moment. All of the other Nordics just stared watching the beautiful reunion before them.

"I promise I'll never hurt you again babyen..." He lightly rubbed her back trying to soothe her and remind himself that this was real. He was finally reunited with his daughter, but all he could feel was regret and shame. She flinched as his hand went over scars that marked her back from punishments long ago including the one from the horrid knife.

He bit his lip and halted the action immediately. Sweden and Iceland stared at the ground in shame and remorse. Nothing could ever fix what they had done, it was a permanent mark on not only her but their relationship.

She felt a few tears slide down her cheeks and her grip on him tightened. "Just because I don't forget," she whispered looking him in the eye, "Doesn't mean I don't forgive. Yes I will remember, but I will never, EVER, let it affect my actions negatively. It's okay to forget sometimes, we have the ability for a reason."

He wiped the tears away with the back of his thumb as he smiled slightly, crying further, she had grown up more than he had thought over the years. "That's my girl."

She smiled back hugging him tighter. Before they could do any more recollecting of thought and feelings, there was a loud knocking on the door, more pounding than anything else. "Open up!" a very familiar British voice yelled.

"Can I help you Mr. Kirkland?" Megan asked through the door, swallowing curtly. She knew they were eventually going to figure out what had happened, but how did they know they would be heading here? And how did they figure it out so fast?

"I know Antarctica is in there so don't you dare even try to mess with me!" England snapped and Ann could hear him tapping his foot impatiently, "America is here as well and he is not afraid to knock down this door!" On the other side both of the brothers were fuming, how could they have been tricked so easily?! England swore to himself once he got in there he was definitely going to give Annabelle an earful on what he thought about her little shenanigans, not to mention that little brunette helping her. America was mostly mad because he was never going to get the free McDonald's from Japan, and he was downright disappointed.

America was mad, but much more controlled than his brother. He had managed to keep a neutral expression, but his eyes did twitch if he got slightly irritated. He felt ashamed, being played with and taken advantage of. He knew he wasn't the smartest guy in the world, but it still hurt when someone took that to their own benefit. It's hard to be a hero when everyone thinks of you as a fast-food obsessed airhead.

"T-that really won't be necessary sir!" Her eyes widened and she took a step back just in case he did it anyway.

"Then can you please open the door?" he asked calming down slightly. He really just wanted to make sure Antarctica was okay, not that much really. After that then maybe he would kill Norway.

"...I-If you promise you won't yell at Antarctica. Please."

He paused and tapped his fingers against his chin in deep thought. There was no way he could say he wouldn't yell at her, she always had a habit of trying to tip him beyond his limits of what he can handle before his anger explodes. "I can't promise that because she might make me yell at her by infuriating me."

"Please sir. She's been through a lot today." She bit her lip.

He sighed, "Haven't we all? But I suppose I will try my best to keep my temper under control."

"A-alright." She undid the lock and opened the door, bracing herself.

Arthur came in slowly with Alfred following. Antarctica stood up immediately and swallowed hard gripping Norway's hand. England looked beyond mad still and America was annoyed as well from his expression.

Megan trembled and buried her head into Tino's arm. The other Nordics parted to make a path for the two brothers, each holding their breath. "W-would now be a bad time to apologize?" Megan asked quietly.

England glanced at the father and daughter and felt his eyes narrow. He understood how most would see this as some great reunion but to him it was actually a threat. "Well Norway, what exactly are you trying to pull?"

Lukas raised an eyebrow crossing his arms letting go of Ann's hand and tilted his head to the side. "Who said I pulling anything? The two of them just showed up, none of us had any idea she was coming."

"Oh really? Why am I having trouble believing you?" Arthur said dryly, "For all I know you could have convinced Megan to bring her here."

"Really Mr. Kirkland, he didn't," Meg assured. "Believe me, as soon as I found out what happened I wanted to break his face with a frying pan. I only met Antarctica today, and I was the one that offered to bring her here. If it's anyone's fault it's mine. I'm sorry..."

He looked at her but turned his gaze back to the two. "Antarctica is that true?" She nodded slowly and squeezed Norway's hand.

"Please England, I needed to see my family again."

A flicker of hurt flashed across Arthur's face, barely detectable. "...Oh. I was under the impression that we were your family."

Antarctica realized her mistake instantly and her eyes widened. "You are! It's just it's been so long since I've seen my papa or uncles!" she ran over to him and hugged him, "Trust me, you and America showed me what a real family is supposed to be like. Without you two I wouldn't be alive today. I'm sorry…" She hoped he believed her, because it was all the truth. America and England were the only reason she even knew how to smile anymore.

England hugged back, sniffling slightly. "I know love..."

She continued to hug him. "I'm sorry for tricking you as well..."

"I-I'm sorry too sir..." Megan looked at her feet.

He gave a small nod. "It's okay, I understand you didn't mean any harm."

Annabelle let go and hugged America as well. "Sorry for tricking you too. I just really wanted to see papa again…"

"It's alright lil sis. I'm pretty impressed you managed to trick the Hero!" He laughed and hugged her back. Megan smiled.

"I see why you and Matt are friends."

She laughed and turned back to her original family her face still glowing brightly. "It's been absolutely amazing seeing everyone again-"

"Ann I don't want you to come her again though," England interrupted causing everyone to gasp. America's eyes widened and he pulled Ann close again. Sure he was mad about her coming here in the first place but he wasn't planning on going to such an extreme.

"England please!" Tino begged, his eyes filling with tears. Megan gripped his hand.

"B-but...P-please Mr. Kirkland..."

He glanced at all of them pulling Antarctica close like he always did when he sensed a threat towards her or them as a whole. He wasn't going to let any of them take his little sister away from him. "I'm sorry but I cannot put her in that horrid situation again. You are no longer her relatives according to the government since America and I own full custody. If I wanted to by the law I could arrest every single one of you for even having contact with her. But I understand that Megan was the one who brought her here and she didn't understand the situation or 'agreement' I'm guessing. I didn't want her to come because I knew this would happen. Maybe Annabelle can forgive what you did to her but I cannot."

"Doesn't Annabelle get a say in this at all?" Megan asked, sniffling. "I wouldn't have brought her here if I didn't think it was safe. I assure you, nothing like that will ever happen again."

"I cannot take your word for it either," he said simply, "You didn't see the wounds she bore. We were the ones who had to reteach her what a real family was like. We were the ones who woke up when she was awake from a nightmare. We were the ones who comforted her when she cried herself to sleep. I was the one who had to heal all of her injuries and it was no happy thing I'll tell you that much. She had cuts all over her body and burns that most of them would have been classified as third-degree." Antarctica flinched at the memory and her free hand went to her arm running over some old scars.

"I understand that," she said shakily, "but you also need to understand that that made her the strong person she is today. My brothers regret what they did with all their hearts. You don't know them like I do; whether they like it or not I can read them like a book."

He paused but shook his head. "I just can't forgive. I know it sounds cruel but what they did to her is too much. If she hadn't been a country she would have died many years before we gained custody of her." He didn't care if it made him seem overprotective, better safe than sorry.

"You don't have to forgive them, Mr. Kirkland. You just have to let Antarctica forgive them. If she's willing to trust them after what they did, then that says something. Don't think about the 'what ifs'. If everyone stayed stuck in the past where would we be?"

He sighed and his grip tightened on Antarctica, something he always did when he sensed some sort of threat directed at her or the both of them. "I know you meant well Megan but my answer is set in stone and final. I am not being cruel but simply protecting her from what can damage her again. There is a reason behind the saying, 'don't let history repeat itself.'"

"Not letting her have her own choice is not protecting her, sir. Please forgive me for my rudeness but I really think you should let her choose. She can make her own judgments on these type of things." She clenched her fist.

He felt his grip slacken slightly. "I just don't want her coming here because I don't trust them yet. Maybe all of them coming to our place would be okay for now. Maybe when I find the strength to forgive she can come here instead."

"Y-yes, t-thank you sir..." She looked at the ground.

Antarctica slowly moved away and looked at America. "Doesn't Alfred get a say in this? He owns custody as well."

Alfred looked up, slightly surprised. "You want me to have a say in this?"

She nodded. "Of course! You're my brother too you know. Not to mention you signed that adoption paper as well."

Alfred shrugged. "No one's ever cared what I thought so I wasn't expecting them to start now."

Everyone seemed shocked. "Alfred Jones I have always cared!" she yelled standing in front of him, "Who did I ask for their opinion on my homecoming dress? Who do I go to for advice every time England's driving me crazy? Who do I always ask for cooking tips? And if you say England I will remind you, COOKING tips!"

England looked slightly offended. "I was the only other person in the house anyway, it's not like there was anyone else to talk to," America said. "I've always been the 'immature', 'stupid' one." His features hardened.

After registering what he had said she stared at him. "Stupid? Could someone 'stupid' stop me from crying each night? Could someone 'immature' manage to convince me being abused wasn't my fault?"

The American remained silent, his untamable hair hiding his face slightly. Her face softened and she brushed his hair out of his face revealing some tears. "You're not what people think. But I will never hold that against you."

He averted his gaze from the floor and looked up at her, swallowing, then pulled her into a tight hug. She yelped quietly but hugged him back. "It's okay..."

He sniffled and started to cry quietly on her shoulder. She patted his back. "It's okay..." she repeated and felt herself crying as well.

"Thank you Ann...I-I'm sorry..." He relaxed against her, sniffling as more tears ran down his face.

"You didn't do anything wrong. Now come on," she pulled away and smiled, "Give me the biggest hero grin you can muster!"

A smile spread across his face at her request, and he ruffled her hair.

She laughed then turned back to everyone. "So, everyone shut up and listen to what America has to say about all of this, got it?" Everyone mumbled some sort of yes and turned their attention to him.

Megan blinked as the Nordics actually all quieted. She gave a shy encouraging smile to America.

America blinked. "Well... I think that Ann should have a choice in it..."

Ann nodded encouragingly. "Go on."

"I mean...you're old enough to make your own decisions, right? And you're already pretty responsible and I think we need to trust you to make your own and the right choices..."

She smiled brightly. "Yeah!"

"Well the problem is I don't trust her," England stated, "She's rash and dives into things without thinking."

"Maybe if we let her do more for herself she would learn to be more responsible," America retorted.

"Oh yeah and the last time we decided to do that she ended up sneaking out to see Canada!" he snapped. Ann's eyes widened at the mention of it but stayed quiet glancing at America.

America's lips pursed. "At least she notices him!" Megan suddenly snapped. "Unlike the rest of you!"

"It's not my fault they look so alike!" England said defensively, "But still it was a very poor choice!" Ann nodded.

"Yeah... and I said sorry about a million times!"

England scowled. "But still!"

"What do you mean 'poor choice'?! Canada is extremely sweet and he deserves a lot more recognition than he gets! Maybe sneaking out with him wasn't the best way to go about it but still! America and Canada don't even look that alike! They have completely different curls, their eyes are different, and America always has a bright smile and Canada always looks nervous and cute when he smiles! Their demeanors are nothing alike and Canada carries a bear around with him! Not to mention they have completely different fashion senses!" she seethed, clenching her fists at her sides.

England blinked. "I'm sorry but if you haven't noticed I don't observe much."

"Megan it's fine seriously," Annabelle patted the girl's shoulder even though the outburst startled her beyond all measures, "I did make a poor choice on doing that and I admit it. Canada is a very sweet man and I'm glad to have him as a boyfriend but I was foolish to sneak out like that."

"Y-you're right...I'm sorry for yelling..." Megan mumbles as her face flushed.

Antarctica smiled that her friend calmed down. "Well," England crossed his arms, "Remember when she went to that party without permission and got drunk?"

"I'm pretty sure they all went to that party."

"She was younger then," America stated, folding his arms. "Sorry, Matthew's just like a big brother to me..."

"We're talking about Antarctica right now. Oh and recently she's been purposely skipping the therapy sessions YOU paid for! That something that can just 'slide by'?!" England snapped and knew he had hit his mark when the American froze.

Ann squeaked, her eyes widening, that was one little detail she hadn't gone around to telling Alfred about. "England I hadn't told him about that yet!"

America's eyes flashed. "And when did you plan to tell me?!"

She swallowed hard. "Um... later I guess?" She laughed nervously. "But that doesn't matter now!"

"Annabelle," he took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I only paid for you to go there because I thought they would help you. And yes, it does matter!" They had been getting her to go ever since she had first arrived. Arthur had first recommended it when she couldn't stop waking them up after frequent nightmares. It was definitely hard to get her to open up but she eventually started talking little by little. Once she turned 10 they let her do it alone.

"I still don't understand why it matters! It's in the past and the therapist was a jerk anyway! I don't appreciate him sticking his nose into my business! Maybe you guys think it helped me when I was six but get it through your head that I'm sixteen now!" she snapped.

"All therapists are like that because they need to know what's wrong before they can even try to help you! We were only trying to do what's best for you Annabelle, and we can't help you if you don't let us," America sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "You have to at least try to open up."

"Well what if I don't need help?" she questioned though in her mind she already knew that she did need help. Her pride just got in the way of her saying it out loud.

"...Everyone needs help sometimes. Like I need help reaching tall shelves," Megan spoke quietly.

Annabelle crossed her arms and looked at America. "I know you're trying to be the hero but I can be my own hero. I don't need people to save me. This is MY problem and these are MY issues! I can handle it myself!"

"Ann..." England sighed, "'Saving' and 'helping' are two completely different things. You can't and shouldn't be expect to be able to do everything alone. It's not heathy either."

She bit her lip keeping her emotions bottled up. "Well I feel like you're treating me like a freaking child!"

"You are a child!"

"You can only say that because you're old Iggy dude," Alfred cut in.

Arthur scowled and turned to the Nordics. "Do you guys let Megan roam around and do whatever she wants?"

All of them shook their heads. "No..."

"Exactly," England snapped and turned back to Ann, "So you are a child."

"It's not fair!" Ann crossed her arms, "You're always telling me 'grow up' and 'act your age' but you treat me like I'm seven or something!"

"Yeah, it sucks," Megan muttered.

"Because you don't 'grow up and act your age' when I tell you to! I treat you like that because that's how you act. I won't treat you like an adult if you act like a child!"

"I do not act like a child!" she snapped, "Face it, you don't want to accept the fact that I'm growing up!"

England froze, his eyes widening then narrowing. Everyone was shocked at the direction the conversation was turning but Antarctica looked him right in the eye, there was no going back now. "Don't want history to repeat itself? You're afraid I'm going to go and fight for my independence like America. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad decision in the first place when I think about it."

His fists clenched, and he glared at her with fire in his eyes. "Why the heck would you know how that feels?! You don't have the right to speak so casually about it! It caused a war! A war between a so-called 'family'!"

"Yeah and looked how many lives were lost!" she met his glare evenly, "Innocent people died because of your pride and your selfish desires!" Everyone sensed the tension that was rising rapidly.

"Family is about trust!" he snapped. "If you don't trust me with your problems then I won't trust you! I trusted America and look where that got us! We didn't decide to always avoid each other and ask for help instead of trying to deal with it on our own!"

"Well I'm sorry but I don't like to press me problems on other people!" she yelled, "Want to know my problems?! Fine! I'm being bullied at school because of my past, I'm failing every single one of my classes, and I've tried to kill myself three times this semester!" To prove her point she yanked her sleeves up showing the long pearly white bandages that wrapped around her arms. "I sit in my room and cry myself to sleep every single night because I'm sick of living! While everyone else is praying for a better day, I'm praying that God will just KILL me!"

Megan suppressed a gasp and started to sob into her hands. "I'm so s-sorry, I-I had n-no idea...!" Everyone else stayed silent.

England started to shake his face grim and biting his lip. Ann blinked away some tears pulling her sleeve back down, what had she done? Just revealing her secret like that? Probably one of the stupidest moves she had ever made in her life. "What? You aren't going to yell at me? Not even ridicule me for being an idiot? Go ahead, throw what insult you can come up with at me."

"..." England pulled her into a hug, trembling violently. "Please just stop this," he sobbed.

She took a moment to process. "Why?" she sniffled tears streaming down her cheeks, "I-I just want to d-die."

"Because everything will be a lot better if you do. If you learned to trust people it would never resort to this." He wanted Ann to be able to come to him with any of her problems, wanted her to stop all self-destructive actions. He just wanted her to smile, laugh, be happy for a change.

She squeezed a few tears out trying not to break down sobbing. "I have trust issues… I'm sorry... I-I wanted to tell y-you but..."

"It doesn't have to be me you tell! Just someone! Find a friend you trust and tell them!" he stroked the back of her head, "It would be easier!"

"There was no one else I trusted besides America and I was scared to tell either of you," she whimpered. If she had told them, she would be admitting how weak she is, and would diminish their thoughts of her being strong.

"W-Why were you scared? The only reason we do all of this is because we love you Ann. We hate seeing you do this to yourself..." He looked her in the eyes, trying to find an understanding.

"I-I was scared that you wouldn't understand," she sniffled, "I thought you would start ridiculing me for it." She couldn't stand the thought of them thinking she was as worthless as she felt.

"Why would we do that? We only want you to be happy Annabelle." He felt like he had failed, thinking that she believed they didn't love her enough to stay be her side no matter what.

"I was being bullied at school by people that were my friends before, I thought you would turn on me as well..."

"We're your brothers...your family. You can trust us Ann..."

She sniffled and started to cry hugging him tighter. "I-I'm sorry for not telling you. I-I was being stupid."

He hushed her, giving her a light kiss to the forehead. "You weren't being stupid love. Don't say that. I'm sorry for being such a rubbish big brother..."

She shook her head still sobbing. "N-no you were the b-best you could be. I-I was a horrible l-little sister."

England shook his head fiercely. "No you weren't. I know I'm always hard on you but I just want you to be safe." He didn't know what he would do if she got hurt and he could have prevented it.

She sniffled. "I'm sorry for always breaking your rules too..."

"No...I should've been less strict about them..." He sighed.

She bit her lip and her grip on him tightened. "I mean... the other things that I've done... that I've hid from you..."

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked raising an eyebrow.

She swallowed hard and looked away. "Just... things I've done... that I haven't told you..."

"Annabelle, have we not just had this discussion? You can trust me."

"I know... but you'll be mad at me... you and America both..."

"I'm sure I've had worse."

Antarctica sniffled and looked up at the Brit. "P-promise you won't be mad?"

"...I promise I won't yell at you," England finally said hesitantly, feeling like he wasn't going to be able to keep that promise.

"But yelling and being mad are two different things," she contradicted.

He sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. "Okay...I promise I won't be mad at you."

Annabelle glanced at America, he was usually calmer than England most of the time. "You too?"

Alfred sighed, but nodded. She swallowed hard and glanced at everyone who were watching carefully and with interest. She didn't feel comfortable revealing everything in front of so many people. It was a lot of stuff she wasn't proud of. "Can I not tell you everything… in front of everyone, please?"

"You can go to your old room to talk," Norway suggested pointing upstairs but he looked a little worried. He had just seen his little girl and finally he saw the heavy burdens in her eyes.

"Of course..." England replied, now rather concerned. Every time she would want to talk to them in private it had not ended well. It would have to be something really serious for her to not want to expose herself in front of a bunch of people. He was honestly a little scared as well.

Letting go of England, Ann turned and started to head up the stairs. She was still feeling her heart pound and she felt like she should just run while she could. But there was no going back after she admitted everything. Nothing was going to be the same. America raised an eyebrow at the Brit but followed her.

_Away from me. _


	7. Chapter 7: When She Cries

England followed the two, a bad feeling brewing in his stomach. What could Ann be possibly hiding from them? The dim halls were painted an egg shell white making it look rather subtle compared to everything else in the house. Swallowing hard Antarctica opened the door and went inside. "Wow, it's been a while since I've seen this room."

Coming inside England and America briefly glanced around, soaking in the detail. The walls were painted a light baby blue with cream trimming, the carpet was bleach white with a large tele circle rug in the center of the room, an intense shade of blue and black dresser was against a wall next to a tall black bookcase, and at the far corner of the room sat a small bed with a fluffy sapphire comforter and white downy pillows.

Biting her lip she sat down on the miniature bed and hugged her knees close to her chest, she could feel her heart pounding through her shirt. "Well... I guess I should start talking..."

"That's what we're waiting for, yes," England said as he pulled out a black chair that had been behind a white desk. He was starting to get very worried about all of this, what things would she be so desperate to keep a secret?

She rested her chin on her knees. "Well, want me to start with things about school that I'm hiding?"

"Wherever you want darling. We're listening." America slung his arm around her shoulder trying to act calm, but secretly he was terrified. 'What do we do?' he thought to himself, 'She's already admitted so much… what could be possibly worse than her cutting herself?'

She swallowed hard, scared of the outcome. Honestly, they could react either way. "I-I guess I should tell you... I've been changing my grades by hacking into the school databases..."

There was silence, and England exhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose as he struggled to keep his emotions bottled up for now. "Why Ann?" Alfred looked at her. "What could you possibly gain from cheating?"

"I know all the information," Antarctica whispered staring at her hands as she wrung them nervously, "I just get nervous when explaining the information or when they start asking me questions..."

England sighed again. "How did you even hack into the system?" he asked.

"I simply just took the grade book and used a couple of virus codes resetting the system," she answered her voice still barely over a whisper. She was actually quite intelligent when it came to science or technology. The decoding process stripped the database clean so all she really had to do was take her profile, put in the grades she wanted then return the rest of the system to its normal settings. Sure most people would think it's complicated, but she had hacked much more complicated hardware.

"I want you to correct your grades as soon as you get back to school," Arthur ordered turning to her again.

"What?!" Ann exclaimed her eyes widening, "Why?!"

"If you didn't get the grade, you shouldn't have it Antarctica. It's not fair," the Englishman added crossing his arms giving her a firm glare. Truly he was ashamed that she had done it in the first place, this was lying AND cheating. He knew that she was a smart girl, but she just didn't like to show it all the time. If she had needed help with her schoolwork, why didn't she just come ask him for help? He had told her time after time if she needed help with her homework if she didn't understand something.

Annabelle thought for a moment and sighed shakily, crossing her arms tightly in front of her chest. "Fine... but I don't appreciate having to change them all back to F's..." she added.

"Oh Ann..." America shook his head in disappointment, "Why would you… just… where did you get an idea…"

"I never meant for it to drop that much..." Antarctica muttered, mostly to herself than anything else. Really she didn't mean for any of this to happen.

"Still...You're changing them back," England said firmly.

The blonde nodded slowly. "Y-yes sir..."

Arthur let out a long sigh before hugging her close once again. Ann had only explained one thing and already it was getting emotional.

Antarctica sniffled. "Does that mean I have to change my attendance back to normal as well?" she asked quietly.

He paused, pondering the question. "...Yes Annabelle." He stroked her hair softly holding back his other comments for now.

"Wait dude, you've been skipping school?" America asked raising an eyebrow. He had always seen her walk to school, if they were feeling concerned or there were some rumors of kidnappers in the neighborhood they would drive her. But she would always be there at the end of the day and the beginning. Sure they didn't have any classes together since they were in different grades but he didn't really think about how little he saw her during the day. Antarctica nodded again.

"And you wonder why you get bad grades!" Arthur breathed deeply, biting his lip.

"That's not the only reason why..." Ann mumbled crossing her arms tight over her chest almost hugging herself.

"Why else?" America asked, frowning.

She slowly pulled out a pair of glasses out of her sweater pocket. They were blue rimmed and black designs decorated the sides. "This is why..."

England raised an eyebrow. "You've never had glasses."

"Yeah bro...did something happen to your eyesight or something?" Alfred asked tilting his head to the side.

"Not… exactly… I've been hiding these glasses from everyone for five years..." she bit her lip for about the thousandth time that day, "I thought they made me look like a dork and refused to wear them outside the privacy of my room..."

"...Ann ...They're glasses ...Loads of people have them ...I mean I do," America reminded her.

"But not me! I don't like them and everyone said I would look like a complete nerd if I did have them!" she attempted to explain.

"Everyone said that about me too Ann. Then they eventually got over themselves and got used to my glasses." America patted her shoulder.

She stared at the floor. "I absolutely hated them. They felt weird on my face and when I put them on the person kept saying, 'oh you look so much like your brothers now!' I want to be an individual without being reminded, 'your hair is so much like England's' or, 'you have America's rebellion' and be put up to your expectations. People want me to end up exactly like you guys and are already pressing my future onto me when I don't even have the slightest idea what it is!"

England frowned. "Of course you're an individual Ann. You shouldn't feel like you need to prove yourself to anyone," he sighed, "Not even to us."

"But I'm expected to," she stared at her shoes, "I'm always supposed to be perfect when I'm not."

"...Imperfections are what makes us who we are...None of us are even close to or ever will be perfect..." Arthur reminded her softly.

"Yeah right! Mr. Gentleman! You were an empire! And America is the richest country in the world! Both of you guys are known as the top of the world's economies!" she argued.

"Yeah, and look how long that lasted..." England mumbled.

"None of that makes us perfect," America added.

"Well what am I? Something countries scavenge at for oil and places to put their scientist at... you have a purpose to live... I don't... if I died no one would even care..." Ann muttered staring off.

England's eyes narrowed along with America's. "Did you really just say that?!" the Brit snapped his anger rapidly rising.

Antarctica blinked. "Yeah, and it's what I believe. My life doesn't matter." She honestly believed that though. What was she that people should mourn for? She was just another struggling teenager everyone glared at. No one had ever seen her pain and asked if they could help. They moved on with their lives and forgot about ever noticing a problem with her. If she had happened to pass away in the middle of the night no one would even blink.

"Why would you even say that while we're sitting here to listen to you?!" Arthur yelled clenching his fist. She had no right to even say no one cared. They were trying to ask how they could help her yet she continued complaining that she was alone.

She was taken aback from his sudden anger. "Well you have nothing better to do apparently!"

"In case it hasn't been clear enough already, we're up here because you wanted us to be and we want to bloody help you!"

"Why?! Why would you ever want to help someone like me?!" Ann questioned her voice going shrill.

"WE'RE YOUR BROTHERS!" England screamed standing up from the chair.

"Yes but still! That's not a justified answer!" Annabelle started to cry pulling her legs close to her chest and sobbing into her knees, "I-I'm not w-worth it!"

"How can you still believe that?! There are many people who have tried to show you kindness, which is a big indication that they care about you! People wouldn't care if you were worthless! You never have been!" He felt hurt as she cried and wanted to comfort her, but it was hard. Even when she was broken she was still curling up and hiding from them. It was as if she was afraid to open up.

"T-then why am I-I bullied for my past? W-why do people p-push me around t-telling me to go kill m-myself?" she asked trembling.

"They don't know anything. They shouldn't mean anything to you."

She continued to cry into her knees. "I-it hurts! That's why I started cutting!"

"People pick at the 'faults' of others because their afraid of their own insecurities. Don't let them get to you Antarctica. Now I want you to look at me," he paused a few moments before tilting her chin up when she didn't respond, "Name one advantage of cutting. You're just hurting yourself more than before."

"The physical pain distracts me from the mental pain," she whispered sniffling and wiped at her eyes. Truly she felt numb to everything around her, as if she wasn't even a part of the world anymore.

"Find something else to distract you. Listen to music, draw, read, write, anything. Just don't hurt yourself!" he begged.

"I-I thought once I died... all the pain would go away... no one would miss me…" she whimpered. The Brit took a sharp breath and thought for a few moments before he gave an answer.

"No... Your pain would be left behind on the shoulders of others..."

Antarctica remained silent at that, struck dumb, before finally speaking up after a stretch of awkward muteness. "I still don't see why anyone would care... you guys try to show that you love me… but I end up making mistakes and pushing you away..."

"We all make mistakes. We're your brothers; of course we'll always care; no matter what. You've had a lot of crap happen to you that you don't and never will deserve. No matter how many times you push us away...we'll always come back. Even if you really don't want us to."

She felt like crying again and a piece of scum. "Here I am complaining about my life... you guys have your own issues..." she mumbled. It did make her feel horrible, pressing her issues onto others. She had always felt uncomfortable about it and thought it wasn't her business. She liked staying behind her walls and staying away from everyone else. Maybe it was from her Post-Traumatic Disorder but she hated when it came to interacting with people around her.

"And yours are far more important," America whispered and the two encircled her in a hug.

She yelped a little but relaxed when she realized they weren't trying to hurt her in any way but intending to comfort her instead. Then, she couldn't take it anymore, she started to sob all over again.

"Let it out love..." England rubbed her back gently as he pulled her onto his lap. He rested his chin on her shoulder and he tried to keep his composure. He didn't want to make her even more emotional by breaking down.

She cried into her hands and buried her face in his sweater-vest since he had just changed out of his uniform before running off to chase America. "I-I just..."

"It's alright Annie...Shh..." America soothed as he stroked her arm still trying to comfort her in any way he could. He felt a little ping of jealousy that she was so attached to Arthur. He didn't mind her caring for his sister but he had always felt like she was so much closer to

"I-I thought that no one cared... a-and maybe t-this was all m-my fault..."

"None of this is your fault...Don't think that..."

"T-the abuse, the bullying, everything... I thought G-God was punishing me... a-and I did something t-too horrible to be given any grace for it."

"No Hun...You don't deserve it..."

"And I don't d-deserve any of this! I-I knew I d-didn't deserve a loving f-family. I-I was convinced I d-didn't deserve to live!"

"D-don't say that Ann... Of course you deserve a family that loves you. There's no reason that you shouldn't. Which we all do," America added. He didn't want her to ever believe she didn't have the right to live.

"I-I..." she swallowed hard and continued to wipe away her tears, "I've been trying so many other things to distract me... to get rid of the pain... stuff people will never forgive me for… that's why I don't deserve any of this…"

"L-like what?" Alfred asked raising an eyebrow. He couldn't see what else she could have done to make any of this harder on them as a family.

She sat in silence, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Very... very... stupid things..." she refused to look at either of them. How could she just admit to everything? If she couldn't stand the people around her judging her then how would she be able to handle her own brothers looking at her with disappointment?

"Please poppet...you can tell us..." Arthur ran his fingers through her hair.

She sniffled, taking a deep breath. "...drugs...smoking..."

"Oh Ann..."

"...skipping school...drinking..."

Tears brimmed at their eyes. "A-Ann..."

She stared at the floor. "I was desperate..."

Alfred stroked her hair, trembling. Arthur sighed sadly, then gave the faintest of smiles. "Oh Annabelle...What are we going to do with you?"

Antarctica kicked her feet and finally looked up at him, tears still struggling to not spill over onto her cheeks again. "I don't even know what to do with myself anymore..."

"You need to look after yourself better... stop putting all of this pain on yourself… you're worth more than the whole world combined to us... We can't lose you..."

"I'm sorry..." she smiled slightly, "I guess I'm going to be going to those therapy sessions and probably the doctors a lot more frequently. My health condition is horrible after doing all of those things..."

He smiled and felt his hopes lift a little. "That's my girl." He patted her head and ruffles her hair. "Just promise you won't do it anymore, ever...please..."

Annabelle smile faded completely. Her expression was now ashamed filled with grief as if the question itself sucked the life out of her. "I... I can't..."

"Ann... p-please..." England begged as his voice cracked.

She looked away. "I can't make promises I can't be sure I'll keep..."

He swallowed, and the room was engulfed in silence.

America touched her shoulder. "Dude, if you keep doing these things to yourself it'll get worse. I know from personal experience that doing this will end up causing more harm than good." She looked at him.

"W-what?" she stuttered, eyes wide.

"You think I was always 'The Hero?'" Alfred smiled at her sadly. "Nope. Whenever... the Revolution happened, I got depressed." He shrugged. "Stuff happened that I'm not proud of. But I see now that what I was doing only made everything worse. I was dragged lower and lower until I stooped so low I tried to kill myself. England saved me..."

She blinked, this was the thing she least expected from him since he smiled all the time. Then again, she also walked down miles of fake smiled. But the cheerful American seemed just so... optimistic. "So... you know what I'm going through..?" England hugged her.

"Everyone knows what it's like Antarctica, I've seen how depression can hurt someone and I already almost lost one of my siblings to it," He glanced at America, "I couldn't bear seeing it happen again."

Alfred was staring at his hands in shame. "...I'm still sorry Arthur ...I thought you hated me..."

He pulled him in for the hug. "I already told you that I forgive you. I felt horrible for letting you think that."

"It wasn't your fault. I was a deluded child, blinded by freedom and big dreams. I forgot what truly was important..." Alfred buried his face in his shoulder.

England rubbed his back and sighed. "Please, don't hold it against yourself. I knew that one day you were going to want to be independent. I just decided to be stubborn about it... but don't worry. It's in the past," he glanced at Antarctica, "All of this is. All we need to do is deal with it together. If any of us has a problem we need to talk about it with one another so we can sort it out, deal?"

"Deal," America replied. The two looked at Ann with an eyebrow raised as if asking if she was going to agree with everything.

She blinked. "Well... even if the problem is something stupid and might get us in trouble..?"

"Yes!" they both chimed.

She groaned but smiled. "I'll think about it..."

They pouted at her, and started poking her cheeks. She scooted away. "Nope, still thinking about it..." Their pouts grew, and they folded their arms in a huff in almost perfect unison. She glanced at them and continued scooting away. "Don't look at me like that!"

"We will until you promise to trust us and tell us when you're upset."

"That's black mail!" she whined. England smirked.

"Yes it is, but most effective."

"Think of it as simple interrogation!" England chirped crossing his arms.

"Oh come on, we've had this big dramatic heart to heart talk and you still refuse to trust us? Isn't there something wrong with that? We just want to help you, but we can't if you don't let us or tell us what's wrong," America reminded her.

"I can't help it! That's who I am! After my childhood and all of this crap I can't stand trying to put faith in something! I'm afraid of it falling through! And it's not you I don't trust, it's myself I don't trust," she mumbled.

"...I'm sorry Ann..." the American finally choked out. He knew with her background it had to be hard, but she had never really talked about it much until now. When they had tried to take her to some therapy, the therapists had actually turned her away after two weeks saying she was impossible to work with and she refused to open up to anyone. That's why they resorted to a different one eventually.

"Yeah..." Arthur agreed. He didn't want her to feel like she couldn't talk to them.

She sighed and let her arms fall to her sides. "And I don't want to talk to the stupid therapists and doctors... it makes me uncomfortable..."

"The reason they're there is to help you help yourself. We don't send you there because we want to, we send you there because we need to."

"They poke and prod at me trying to make me discuss my past and how I feel. They give me those stupid fake smiles and act like I should just open up to them..."

"...That's what they're supposed to do. They're not there to judge, and they don't. My therapist helped me turn my life around, with the help of Arthur..."

She continued staring at the floor as she slid off of England's lap. "Well I see how they look at me differently. When I went to the hospital to get my regular check-up they looked at me... like I was a disgrace once they found the signs of drug in my system. They tried calling you but I told them I was going to talk to you myself..."

Arthur sighed and stroked her back softly. "We only want what's best for you..."

She blinked away tears. "England, I told them I would tell you everything five months ago..."


End file.
